Investigate the MSM – An Argument In Favor
Here is a novel idea (via RCP) – Investigate How the Press Led Us Into Iraq
With the Internet and a few bucks you too could be an investigative reporter.
But who will investigate the press? Who will say the emperor-investigators have no clothes? Who will shout that the press’s performance these last few years has been as bad as most every other important institution in the land of the free?
But you aren’t permitted to investigate the press. They have a First Amendment immunity from scrutiny.
Cranberg emphasizes that the investigation of the press’s role should be done by outsiders because no one would believe a self-investigation by distinguished practitioners of our defensive little profession. “The fundamental question,” he says, is this: “Why did the press as a whole fail to question sufficiently the administration’s case for war?”
The problem with this idea is simple – you can’t judge the press unless you are a member of same!
Why did The New York Times and others “parrot” administration claims about Iraq’s acquisition of material necessary to manufacture nuclear weapons when there was ample evidence that those claims were untrue?
Yes there are plenty of questions for those who are pious purveyors of failure today. The truth may hurt the public image of the press and those who feed it with material. A real investigation just might lead to the discovery of the underground system of passing sensitive material to the press for political purposes.
