Next Wednesday PBS is planning to air a special on the media’s performance during the run up to the 2003 U.S. Invasion of Iraq, and if this Editor & Publisher article is any indication, the portrayal will be far from positive. Basically the verdict is that the media did not do enough to question what is now known to have been shaky intelligence used by the Bush administration in making the decision to go to war.
Most interesting, however, is this paragraph:
Walter Isaacson is pushed hard by Moyers and finally admits, "We didn't question our sources enough." But why? Isaacson notes there was "almost a patriotism police" after 9/11 and when the network showed civilian casualties it would get phone calls from advertisers and the administration and "big people in corporations were calling up and saying, 'You're being anti-American here.'"
I wish this quote weren’t quite so vague, and I’ll definitely be tuning in to see if the documentary itself provides any substantiation or elaboration. It is a little chilling that advertisers (even as vicarious agents of consumers) can have such a direct and powerful impact on the content of the news.
Cristina Gonzalez @ Thu, 04/26/2007 - 1:50pm
It's always easier to look back and reflect on the "mistakes" of our past. There is something to be learned from history, but I will really only be interested in the impact until we have something new to apply it to. (PS. I'm not asking for another war--for all you who love to jump to conclusions.)
Besides that, I do not believe that journalists were being told directly from the administration not to ask or not to report certain things. I think that journalists were caught in the same haze as the rest of the country in not really knowing what the right course of action was at the time. They were sensative and reserved at a time when the country was in mourning. You can't fault them for being human. But then again, it is always a double-edged sword because in these past few years--abd particularly weeks--our country has had to grapple with the concept of when it is "okay" or "pc" to push an issue and when it is not.
Even with the restrospective look, this will always be an issue facing journalists.