Props to Michael Getler, the WaPo's ombudsman. For the second time recently he has
tackled the issue of his paper's tendency to downplay stories about the Bush administration's exaggerations and lies regarding Iraq's WMDs. He's polite, his tone is moderate, but he's getting more and more pissed at the news editors for burying all of Walter Pincus' hard-hitting stories on intel exaggeration.
After pointing out that the Post, the Times, and the Journal all buried articles this week on how the administration exaggerated Iraq's threat, Getler writes:
"Editors cannot, of course, put every story on this subject on the front page. But the topic is a source of frustration for many readers, and for me, because there is no easy way to stay on top of this crucial story. Page one tells readers what news editors think is important, and the press is about the only way to find out more than what the government chooses to tell us."
This week's installment is headlined "Not Everyone Was Wrong," and as that implies, it's a response to David Kay's famous "We were all wrong" mea culpa. Getler highlights all the various US government agencies who got it right in saying Iraq was not a threat: from the Defense Intelligence Agency to the State Department to the Air Force.
Now, compare Getler's stand-up performance to Daniel Okrent's
whitewash in the New York Times. He was hired two months ago, and so far his "analyses" have been wet-noodle factories that have focused on small-bore issues that carefully avoid taking a big-picture look at the Times' coverage.
Today he goes completely solipsistic and writes a column about . . . himself! In fact, this is the second column he's written about himself, making it two for six on the "Enough about me, let's talk about me" theme. And remember, this man only writes a column every other week, so his opportunities to have an impact are severely limited. He tells us he's working on an examination of last week's Times Magazine "Sex Slaves" story. In other words, he's planning to avoid the question of pro-Bush bias at the Times yet again! Way to go, Dan!
Anyway, I would like to suggest checking out Michael Getler's WaPo column and then writing him a congratulatory e-mail, as I did. He's at ombudsman@washpost.com.
I wouldn't bother writing Dan Okrent at the Times. He says that he's going to take a good long time before making up his mind about bias on the Times' news pages. He'll probably appoint a commission and have them report sometime after the election.