\n“Before invading Iraq, the administration warned repeatedly that Saddam Hussein was developing nuclear, chemical and biological weapons. Those statements proved wrong. The administration’s charges about Iran sound uncomfortably familiar to some.”<\/span><\/p>\nThose to whom the charges sound uncomfortably familiar are people with measurable brainwave activity. It’s nice to see that some in the press are in that category. Given the degree to which much of the press swallowed administration lies in the ramp up to the Iraq war, it is encouraging to see some evidence of professional skepticism on the part of the Times. There was plenty of reason to be skeptical the first time around, but that didn’t stop most major news outlets from ignoring the danger signs and publishing the administration’s propaganda.<\/p>\n
Having been burned, it seems that, at least in this case, they aren’t going to roll over again. As BushCo manuevers to justify yet another unwarranted attack, this time against Iran, the newly discovered journalistic gumption of the Times produces this observation:<\/p>\n
“U. S. officials have declined to provide documantation of seized Iranian ordnance, despite repeated requests. The U. S. military often releases photographs of other weapons finds.”<\/span><\/p>\nBy reporting that documentation was requested and denied, and contrasting that with previous known behavior, the authors have dutifully informed their readers with sufficient and appropriate data from which informed conclusions can be made. That’s how it’s supposed to work. And it should work that way regardless of who’s in office, whether or not they are popular, or what effect it might have on the reporters or their employers. If enough of the media provides this kind of critical review of government PR, we might just avoid another deadly and pointless war.<\/p>\n
These are the times that define the media. Will they fulfill their obligation to the people they serve? Will they honor the journalistic principles that are the foundation of open and free democracies?<\/p>\n
We’ll see.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Who knew that the media would take so well to the lesson served up by our Educator-In-Chief: “There’s an old saying in Tennessee – I know it’s in Texas, probably in Tennessee – that says, fool me once, shame on – shame on you. Fool me – you can’t get fooled again.” GWB, September 17, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-329","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4Ijg-5j","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":28823,"url":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=28823","url_meta":{"origin":329,"position":0},"title":"Jeb Bush Announces That He’s Running For The Nomination Of A Dying GOP","author":"Mark NC","date":"6\/15\/2015","format":false,"excerpt":"\"Fool me once, shame on - shame on you. Fool me - you can't get fooled again.\" Or so Jeb Bush would like you to think as he officially throws his hat into the clown car for the 2016 GOP presidential primary. This would make the third time getting fooled\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Election"","block_context":{"text":"Election","link":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?cat=152"},"img":{"alt_text":"Reince Priebus","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.newscorpse.com\/Pix\/Campaign-2016\/priebus-gop-wont-exist.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.newscorpse.com\/Pix\/Campaign-2016\/priebus-gop-wont-exist.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.newscorpse.com\/Pix\/Campaign-2016\/priebus-gop-wont-exist.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":9305,"url":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=9305","url_meta":{"origin":329,"position":1},"title":"Lamestream Humor: NewsBusters Doesn’t Get That The Joke Is On Them","author":"Mark NC","date":"3\/17\/2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Conservative pundits and personalities have been a rich source of material for satire and mockery. However, there are times when their glassy-eyed incoherence inspires more sympathy than ridicule. And this may be one of them. Noel Sheppard, the Associate Editor of the uber-rightist media monitor NewsBusters, posted an item yesterday\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General"","block_context":{"text":"General","link":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?cat=1"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":4676,"url":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=4676","url_meta":{"origin":329,"position":2},"title":"Israel To Glenn Beck: STAY HOME!","author":"Mark NC","date":"6\/17\/2011","format":false,"excerpt":"A grassroots movement of Americans and Israelis are launching a campaign to tell Glenn Beck that he isn't wanted or needed in Israel. Beck's insultingly named \"Restoring Courage\" rally will bring Beck and a few hundred of his disciples to Israel on a vague mission that purports to be supportive\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General"","block_context":{"text":"General","link":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?cat=1"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":348,"url":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=348","url_meta":{"origin":329,"position":3},"title":"Judith Miller Redux: Has The New York Times Learned Nothing?","author":"Mark NC","date":"2\/11\/2007","format":false,"excerpt":"I can't say this much better than Greg Mitchell of Editor and Publisher, so... \"Saturday's New York Times features an article, posted at the top of its Web site late Friday, that suggests very strongly that Iran is supplying the \"deadliest weapon aimed at American troops\" in Iraq. The author\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General"","block_context":{"text":"General","link":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?cat=1"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":125,"url":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=125","url_meta":{"origin":329,"position":4},"title":"Chris Matthews: Chowderhead","author":"Mark NC","date":"4\/4\/2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Yesterday, Chris Matthews interviewed Gen. Anthony Zinni and pressed him on the administration's planning for post-invasion Iraq. Matthews: Who believed there would not be resistance? What fool thought that a third world country would let us march into their country and start calling the shots without resistance? I mean, I\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General"","block_context":{"text":"General","link":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?cat=1"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":40338,"url":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=40338","url_meta":{"origin":329,"position":5},"title":"Bunker Mentality: A Fearful Trump Orders Press Secretary ‘Not to Bother’ with Press Briefings","author":"Mark NC","date":"1\/22\/2019","format":false,"excerpt":"When third world dictators find themselves getting squeezed by opposition from enemies, foreign or domestic, they have a common response. It generally involves narrowing their exposure to any criticism or events that might produce negative results. They begin to purge those they fear could be disloyal, they tighten their grip\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General"","block_context":{"text":"General","link":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?cat=1"},"img":{"alt_text":"Donald Trump","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/..\/Pix\/Trump\/trump-dictator-e1542482428121.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/..\/Pix\/Trump\/trump-dictator-e1542482428121.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/..\/Pix\/Trump\/trump-dictator-e1542482428121.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/329","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=329"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/329\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=329"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=329"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=329"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}