Media Accused of Uncritical Coverage of Iraq War Buildup A study conducted jointly by the Center for Public Integrity and the Fund for Independence in Journalism has concluded that the news media gave "deferential and uncritical" coverage to hundreds of false administration statements about the national security threat from Iraq following the 9/11 attacks that "effectively galvanized public opinion and, in the process, led the nation to war under decidedly false pretenses." The study, posted Tuesday on the CPI's website and reported later by Editor and Publisher, tallied 935 false statements by Bush administration officials, including President Bush, Vice President Cheney, Secretary of State Powell, National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz and White House spokesmen Ari Fleischer and Scott McClellan. "The cumulative effect of these false statements -- amplified by thousands of news stories and broadcasts -- was massive, with the media coverage creating an almost impenetrable din for several critical months in the run-up to war," the study concluded.
If you live in Santa Barbara, it would be hard to ignore Barack Obama's recent trip to our quaint little town. In fact -- thanks to Opra -- pretty much the whole world knew about the engagement. By some accounts, upwards of five thousand people showed up to his rally at Santa Barbara City College and cemented his place as a local political rock star. Why, many ask, is this man so popular? Is it his youth, his energy, his message of hope, his sense of humor, his commitment to change, or something entirely different? My answer would be all of the above. But it's one recent Obama statement in particular on which I would like to focus ... the audacity of not wearing an American flag lapel pin. Let's come back to that.
I've made no secret of the fact that I think the media leans right. To the majority of Americans, that's crazy talk: we all know the media is liberal, no? And why do we "know" that? Because it's what we've been told over and over and over again by the Republican Noise Machine until it's permanently burned into our brains. The end result of this extremely effective campaign is that the media is now hyper-paranoid of being perceived as leaning left and, thus, goes out of its way to treat conservatives with kid gloves. And the converse of this phenomena is that those same gloves are completely removed when it comes to progressives.
This brings us back to Barack Obama. In a recent interview, it was pointed out that he was no longer wearing an American flag lapel pin. His response was the following:
... I probably haven't worn a flag pin in a very long time. After a while I noticed people wearing a lapel pin and not acting very patriotic ... My attitude is that I'm less concerned about what you're wearing on your lapel than what's in your heart. You show your patriotism by how you treat your fellow Americans, especially those who serve. You show your patriotism by being true to our values and ideals. That's what we have to lead with is our values and our ideals.
Hmmm, seems like a reasonable statement, right? Well, if the media was truly "fair and balanced," it would have been treated as such. But that's not what happened. Instead, the right jumped all over it and accused Obama of being unpatriotic. The media in turn did what they always do with Democratic presidential candidates ... the issue was exploded out of proportion and the media fed the myth. Let's give some other examples of this journalistic pattern:
1) A small group of conservatives with ties to Bush started a since debunked rumor that John Kerry was a coward and didn't really deserve his purple heart and other medals. You may remember this referred to as "swiftboating." Did the media come to his defense and tell the truth about what happened in Vietnam? No, they perpetuated the myth, and Kerry lost. But hey, they did manage to scare up some outrage at the "general betray us" ad.
2) Howard Dean, in a moment of excitement, had the nerve to scream at a rally. Did the media explain the real story about how loud it was, about his desire to pump up his supporters, and about the fact that you couldn't hear the crowd on TV? No, they played the clip over and over, perpetuating the myth that he was a crazy man. Diane Sawyer had the guts to explain how unfair that was. Funny how her comments weren't played endlessly.
3) The right loves to repeat the lie that Al Gore took credit for "inventing the Internet." First, he never said that. Second, he did actually have a big hand in the evolution of the Internet. Did the liberal media rally behind the truth for Al Gore. No, once again, they repeated the lie. And speaking of the recent Nobel Prize winner, I think Bob Herbert summed up the 2000 election pretty well in Saturday's column:
Mr. Gore was taken to task for his taste in clothing and for such grievous offenses as sighing or, allegedly, rolling his eyes. It was a given that at a barbecue everyone would rush to be with his opponent.
4) John Edwards received an expensive haircut. See any articles about Romney's grooming habits lately?
So, let me be clear. My point here isn't to say that the media is in cahoots with conservatives. No, what I'm trying to argue is that the media -- in its fervor to be seen as centered -- will let these rumors, myths, and lies about Democrats take hold but won't apply the same level of scrutiny to the actions of Republicans. And that, my friends, is leaning to the right.
As Bill Maher so eloquently states in the above clip, the media (and the public) continuously say how desperate they are for presidential candidates who are bold and speak from the heart. But the cruel joke is that they've set up an environment where you have to be a spineless, say nothing, wooden robot in order to get elected as a Democrat. If your last name is Bush, however, you can say and do whatever you want ... and the liberal media is happy to oblige. As Paul Krugman once joked regarding this topic:
If Bush said tomorrow that the Earth is flat, the headlines the next day would read "Shape of the World: Opinions Differ"
