The War in Iraq and Why the Media Failed Us
Reviewed by Steve Weinberg Posted Sun, Nov 12 2006
The War in Iraq and Why the Media Failed Us
By David Dadge
Praeger, 193 pages
From his observation post in Vienna, Austria, at the International Press Institute, David Dadge sees clearly across a vast ocean and a considerable land mass. He demonstrated that vision two years ago in his book Casualty of War: The Bush Administration's Assault on a Free Press. He demonstrates it again in another book that can be fairly classified as a follow-up report.
Dadge's indictment is severe and sweeping: “Given a watchdog role within American society-a role supported by the First Amendment and a raft of Supreme Court cases-the American media failed to ask the tough questions of an administration that seemed determined to go to war.”
Dadge softens the indictment slightly in the same paragraph, noting that some media organizations did question the views of U.S. President George W. Bush and his administration officials about the alleged dangers to American security and world security in Iraq. But, Dadge comments, even those media organizations reported their findings “in such a way that they gave credence to the Bush administration's views while downplaying the views of those who disagreed.”
Later, Dadge gives a bit of praise where it is due, to Knight Ridder newspaper's Washington, D.C., which has since been partially dismantled due to decreased newspaper sales and purchases.
The book is flawed by Dadge's parsimonious praise. Many journalists at newspapers, magazines, television networks, radio networks and online media raised important questions and disseminated important findings. Maybe Dadge searched too narrowly. Maybe he lacked access to some of that reporting while living overseas.
Still, as a generalization, his book-length indictment seems valid, and his willingness to express dismay in a coherent manner could serve as a palliative.
Dadge is especially adept at invoking history to make his case in the present. He recalls the era of U.S. Senator Joseph McCarthy, a Wisconsin Republican who, more than 50 years ago, spread allegations about traitorous communists within the U.S. government and powerful private-sector institutions. Dadge explains how journalists published McCarthy's allegations, which were damaging to individual careers and to public understanding, without seeking documentation. When a few well-trained journalists did their jobs well, they discovered that McCarthy was a fabricator. Eventually, the exposure of McCarthy's fabrications and his erratic personal behavior toppled him from power.
It is almost certainly too late into Bush's second White House term to topple him or his appointees from power before their prescribed service ends. It is not too late, however, for skilled, skeptical journalists to uncover the truth about the U.S. military entry into Iraq and the effectiveness of the invasion.
Dadge worries, however, that corporate ownership of major media organizations will discourage that sort of retrospective reporting, as well as future truth-seeking reporting in the face of government denials. “With conglomerates squeezing their media holdings ever tighter, there is considerable pressure on news divisions to show a profit,” Dadge asserts. “As a consequence, in recent years, media concentration has had an impact on the way media organizations report on the news.”
The book offers interesting, partial solutions: Training of journalists to think and act more skeptically; refusal to publish anonymous quotations from government officials who fail to produce verifiable evidence; stronger enforcement and use of open records laws, especially the federal Freedom of Information Act; rejecting mindless patriotism as an influence upon what is published and what is withheld.
Maybe some of the problems will evaporate when the anti-press Bush administration has left the White House. However, Dadge says convincingly, media organizations must clean their own houses before attempting to fumigate the White House.
Steve Weinberg
Steve Weinberg reviews books regularly for Global Journalist, concentrating on journalistic technique rather than summaries of content.