Conflicted, Compliant and Sometimes Culpable
by Devilstower
Tue Mar 25, 2008 at 12:21:47 PM PDT
NPR's On The Media can be as frustrating as the rest of the network's lineup. They often offer amazing "behind the scenes" insights, but rarely do any of the facts presented there translate into a change in coverage -- even on NPR.
After five years of the Iraq War, reporter Bob Garfield has created a retrospective of media failures; a "greatest misses" of the war that just won't end. The string of Fourth Estate failures includes not simply failing to challenge the obvious misinformation in the run-up to the war, but actively participating in the creation of the Iraq is a Threat mythology. The "best" of our media didn't just parrot what the administration said, it created an ouruboros of lies.
To support the case came the next gambit, leaking phony intelligence to key reporters, notably The New York Times' Judith Miller, in order that the independent media be seen as validating administration claims about Saddam's nuclear weaponry ambitions. Here's Vice-President Dick Cheney talking on Meet the Press about aluminum tubes.
VICE-PRESIDENT DICK CHENEY: There's a story in The New York Times this morning that says – and I want to attribute The Times. I don't want to talk about, obviously, specific intelligence sources.
Her eager participation in the deception has already earned Miller much deserved scorn (and her own category in the Opprobrium Awards). But even this was just the warm up act.
BOB GARFIELD: But in terms of managing public opinion, this was mere prologue. The past five years have seen a perverse symbiosis – the yin of government deception joined with the yang of media credulousness. And it began quickly.
What did Media Santa bring us as the war began?
- Thrilling images of Sadaam's statue being toppled, all carefully cropped to make it look like a spontaneous demonstration when it was knowingly staged -- complete with Iraqis literally trucked into position and posed by a military psy-ops team. The media knew from the moment it happened that this event was staged, but they not only went along, they expanded the lie.
- The daring rescue of Jessica Lynch, complete with dashing into a hospital under heavy fire and making off with a captive -- and photogenic -- soldier. Though the truth started to appear long before the Movie of the Week made the screen, the media showed little interest in correcting the story. And as NPR's own Brooke Gladstone explained "it's because the war is over."
- The war over? Absolutely. That was the week of Action Figure Bush, complete with flight suit and "Mission Accomplished" banner. At the time, Garfield asked New York Times White House correspondent Elizabeth Bumiller about the media celebrating spectacle rather than trying to learn the truth. Bumiller's reply?
BUMILLER: I don't perhaps think it's as dangerous as you think it is.
Garfield goes on to recount the "spontaneous" press conferences that were run from a script, the death of Pat Tillman, the... hell, the everything that came out their mouths of the last six years plus.
The invasion of Iraq is the single stupidest thing the United States has ever done as a nation, and not all the fault lies with Bush, or with the Senators who voted him authority. A big, heaping, stinking, steaming load of blame goes to the media that tried to treat this as the next great news spectacular. They spent more time picking theme songs and graphic designs, working out electronic maps and cool ways to use Google Earth, than they did trying to learn the truth.
It's not the blogs that are a threat to the traditional media. The fingers around their throats are their own.
But don't worry. I'm sure new sets, more dramatic sound effects, spiffier graphics, and more screaming pundits will set things right.
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