Walter Pincus, the excellent
Washington Post reporter,
says:
A new element of courage in journalism would be for editors and reporters to decide not to cover the President's statements when he -- or any public figure -- repeats essentially what he or she has said before. The Bush team also has brought forward another totally PR gimmick: The President stands before a background that highlights the key words of his daily message. This tactic serves only to reinforce that what's going on is public relations -- not governing. Journalistic courage should include the refusal to publish in a newspaper or carry on a TV or radio news show any statements made by the President or any other government official that are designed solely as a public relations tool, offering no new or valuable information to the public.
That's all fine, but I think a better approach for journalists would be to actually report on the lies of government officials and the President that this PR is all too often covering up. Fine to not cover the PR, but better to actually expose what is happening behind the PR. Better to expose the lie that the PR is obscuring.
Paul Krugman has described what might be behind their reluctance.
As for the rest, certainly being critical at the level I've been critical -- basically saying that these guys are lying, even if it's staring you in the face -- is a very unpleasant experience. You get a lot of heat from people who should be on your side, because they accuse you of being shrill, which is everybody's favorite word for me. And you become a personal target. It can be quite frightening. I've seen cases where a journalist starts to say something less than reverential about Bush, and then catches himself or herself, and says something like, "Oh, I better not say that, I'll get 'mailed.'" And what they mean by "mail" is hate mail, and it also means that somebody is going to try to see if there's anything in your personal history that can be used to smear you.
What we have is a media that, to paraphrase another Krugman example, if Bush were to say that the world is flat today, would report "Bush Says the World is Flat, Democrats Disagree." Yes, the media needs a new element of courage. The courage to tell the truth.