It’s being claimed that “the most powerful indictment of the news media for falling down in its duties in the run-up to the war in Iraq” is contained in a 90-minute PBS broadcast called “Buying the War,” which marks the return of Bill Moyers Journal this coming Wednesday (4.25). Editor & Publisher was sent a preview DVD and a draft transcript for the program this week.
“While much of the evidence of the media’s role as cheerleaders for the war presented here is not new,” an E & P analysis reads, “it is skillfully assembled, with many fresh quotes from interviews (with the likes of Tim Russert and Walter Pincus) along with numerous embarrassing examples of past statements by journalists and pundits that proved grossly misleading or wrong.
“Several prominent media figures, prodded by Moyers, admit the media failed miserably, though few take personal responsibility.
“The war continues today, now in its fifth year, with the death toll for Americans and Iraqis rising again — yet Moyers points out, ‘the press has yet to come to terms with its role in enabling the Bush Administration to go to war on false pretenses.’
“Among the few heroes of this devastating film are reporters with the Knight Ridder/McClatchy bureau in D.C. Tragically late, Walter Isaacson, who headed CNN, observes, “The people at Knight Ridder were calling the colonels and the lieutenants and the people in the CIA and finding out, you know, that the intelligence is not very good. We should’ve all been doing that.”
“At the close, Moyers mentions some of the chief proponents of the war who refused to speak to him for this program, including Thomas Friedman, Bill Kristol, Roger Ailes, Charles Krauthammer, Judith Miller and William Safire.
“But Dan Rather, the former CBS anchor, admits, “I don’t think there is any excuse for, you know, my performance and the performance of the press in general in the roll up to the war√ɬ¢√¢‚Äö¬¨√Ǭ¶we didn’t dig enough. And we shouldn’t have been fooled in this way.”
“Bob Simon, who had strong doubts about evidence for war, was asked by Moyers if he pushed any of the top brass at CBS to ‘dig deeper,’ and he replies, ‘No, in all honesty, with a thousand mea culpas√ɬ¢√¢‚Äö¬¨√Ǭ¶.nope, I don’t think we followed up on this.'”
