GREG MITCHELL, EDITOR & PUBLISHER - The most powerful indictment of the
news media for falling down in its duties in the run-up to the war in
Iraq will appear next Wednesday, a 90-minute PBS broadcast called
"Buying the War," which marks the return of "Bill Moyers Journal." While
much of the evidence of the media's role as cheerleaders for the war
presented here is not new, it is skillfully assembled, with many fresh
quotes from interviews (with the likes of Tim Russert and Walter Pincus)
along with numerous embarrassing examples of past statements by
journalists and pundits that proved grossly misleading or wrong. Several
prominent media figures, prodded by Moyers, admit the media failed
miserably, though few take personal responsibility. . .
At the close, Moyers mentions some of the chief proponents of the war
who refused to speak to him for this program, including Thomas Friedman,
Bill Kristol, Roger Ailes, Charles Krauthammer, Judith Miller, and
William Safire.
But Dan Rather, the former CBS anchor, admits, "I don't think there is
any excuse for, you know, my performance and the performance of the
press in general in the roll up to the war.". . .
[CNN's] 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.'"
Moyers then mentions that Isaacson had sent a memo to staff, leaked to
the Washington Post, in which he declared, "It seems perverse to focus
too much on the casualties or hardship in Afghanistan" and ordered them
to balance any such images with reminders of 9/11. Moyers also asserts
that editors at the Panama City (Fla.) News-Herald received an order
from above, "Do not use photos on Page 1A showing civilian casualties.
Our sister paper has done so and received hundreds and hundreds of
threatening emails."
Walter Pincus of the Washington Post explains that even at his paper
reporters "do worry about sort of getting out ahead of something." But
Moyers gives credit to Charles J. Hanley of The Associated Press for
trying, in vain, to draw more attention to United Nations inspectors
failing to find WMD in early 2003. . .
Phil Donahue recalls that he was told he could not feature war
dissenters alone on his MSNBC talk show and always had to have "two
conservatives for every liberal." Moyers resurrects a leaked NBC memo
about Donahue's firing that claimed he "presents a difficult public face
for NBC in a time of war. At the same time our competitors are waving
the flag at every opportunity.". . .
Of the 414 Iraq stories broadcast on NBC, ABC and CBS nightly news in
the six months before the war, almost all could be traced back to
sources solely in the White House, Pentagon or State Dept., Moyers tells
Russert, who offers no coherent reply.
http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_
display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003574260
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news media for falling down in its duties in the run-up to the war in
Iraq will appear next Wednesday, a 90-minute PBS broadcast called
"Buying the War," which marks the return of "Bill Moyers Journal." While
much of the evidence of the media's role as cheerleaders for the war
presented here is not new, it is skillfully assembled, with many fresh
quotes from interviews (with the likes of Tim Russert and Walter Pincus)
along with numerous embarrassing examples of past statements by
journalists and pundits that proved grossly misleading or wrong. Several
prominent media figures, prodded by Moyers, admit the media failed
miserably, though few take personal responsibility. . .
At the close, Moyers mentions some of the chief proponents of the war
who refused to speak to him for this program, including Thomas Friedman,
Bill Kristol, Roger Ailes, Charles Krauthammer, Judith Miller, and
William Safire.
But Dan Rather, the former CBS anchor, admits, "I don't think there is
any excuse for, you know, my performance and the performance of the
press in general in the roll up to the war.". . .
[CNN's] 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.'"
Moyers then mentions that Isaacson had sent a memo to staff, leaked to
the Washington Post, in which he declared, "It seems perverse to focus
too much on the casualties or hardship in Afghanistan" and ordered them
to balance any such images with reminders of 9/11. Moyers also asserts
that editors at the Panama City (Fla.) News-Herald received an order
from above, "Do not use photos on Page 1A showing civilian casualties.
Our sister paper has done so and received hundreds and hundreds of
threatening emails."
Walter Pincus of the Washington Post explains that even at his paper
reporters "do worry about sort of getting out ahead of something." But
Moyers gives credit to Charles J. Hanley of The Associated Press for
trying, in vain, to draw more attention to United Nations inspectors
failing to find WMD in early 2003. . .
Phil Donahue recalls that he was told he could not feature war
dissenters alone on his MSNBC talk show and always had to have "two
conservatives for every liberal." Moyers resurrects a leaked NBC memo
about Donahue's firing that claimed he "presents a difficult public face
for NBC in a time of war. At the same time our competitors are waving
the flag at every opportunity.". . .
Of the 414 Iraq stories broadcast on NBC, ABC and CBS nightly news in
the six months before the war, almost all could be traced back to
sources solely in the White House, Pentagon or State Dept., Moyers tells
Russert, who offers no coherent reply.
http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_
display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003574260
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