I came out the Robert F. Kennedy Jr. speech at DePauw Friday night feeling like I just go yelled at.

I went into the speech thinking he was going to talk about the environment, but he waxed eloquent about his apparent disdain for the George W. Bush administration and its policies regarding the environment.

I don't claim to know much about Bush's policies regarding the environment, but man, could you tone it down a little bit?

To be fair, it would appear that a majority of the public in attendance agreed with Kennedy when he called the President a "son of a *****" because the Kresge Auditorium was filled with the roar of laughter and applauds.

But what really made me shrink down in my seat was when the son of the former U.S. Senator with the same name took pot shots at the American media and blamed us for not doing our part in writing stories about the environment.

As I sat there and listened to his speech, I had to remind myself that he was here to talk about the environment even though he seemed to drift off the point almost immediately after his speech began.

I have to take issue with one thing Kennedy said about the media. He commented that five corporations own a majority of the media outlets in the country and thereby control what gets reported.

I know a little about this corporate ownership he speaks of - mainly that Disney owns ABC news - so I understand his point to a certain extent.

However, I am an independent journalist, with my own mind, and exercise freely my Constitutional right to the Freedom of the Press. I take my responsibility to report the news accurately and fairly at all times and will never compromise my journalistic integrity to meet the demands of a corporate giant.

Unfortunately I had to leave before the speech was finished, so maybe I missed the environmental emphasis toward the end. But man, if you want supporters for your cause, it's probably not a good idea to offend your audience right out of the start gate.