a thoughtful web.
Good ideas and conversation. No ads, no tracking.   Login or Take a Tour!
comment
mk  ·  3900 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: The Certainty of Donald Rumsfeld (Part 1)

    PAM HESS: It was a difficult environment to report in. The anti-war crowd really wanted the reporters in that room to take up their fight. And that is something that we couldn’t do, professionally or ethically. We’re not there as antiwar protesters. We’re there as reporters, trying to assemble a public record. You had to have all your ducks in a row to ask a question and to be able to keep pursuing it, because he would find any weakness and take it apart. I thought of them as exit ramps. I tried not to give him exit ramps in my questions.

Hess' characterization disturbed me. At the time, it was very clear that the Administration had decided to invade Iraq and that they were on a PR offensive to sell it. Calling that for what it was wasn't an antiwar stance. It would have been an anti-BS stance. It is the job of the media not to tolerate such a game. But, they played it. They played it because 911 had just happened and it was uncomfortable to do otherwise.