We Can All Say

"no kidding" to the idea the media were and are largely responsible for the invasion of Iraq.

Why? Liberals quoted in the article say basically the media refused to ask the tough questions needed to generate a debate on the issue, and they especially didn't follow up on the Bush administration's claims there was a connection between Saddam and Al Qaeda. Conservatives, idiots that they are, claim reporters are asking too many skeptical questions, a notion that challenges one to keep a straight face when confronted with such a preposterous claim.

I could add that thanks to the elimination of the Fairness Doctrine, media, especially cable news and talk radio, have shut out criticisms of administration policy, which could embolden reporters to ask tough questions. Because there is no counterargument presented, the media become nothing more than propaganda organs for the government. This is certainly true now. Administration officials can out-and-out lie and few people in conventional media challenge it.

Bill Plante of CBS News claims reporters ask the tough questions at White House briefings, but the administration simply refuses to answer them. Then why don't the media look at that very thing of why the administration is less than forthcoming on matters of policy. Just because the administration refuses to level with reporters doesn't absolve reporters of doing their jobs.

At least in theory it shouldn't. But when there are an overwhelming number of far right business owners of the news media, owners who stand to gain a great deal from Republican handouts in terms of deregulation and tax breaks, reporting without spin and propaganda can be risky to reporters' careers. And that is the real unsaid message in the article.