Description
It took the New York Times nearly a year to account for its faulty reporting on weapons of mass destruction in the run-up to the invasion of Iraq (and even then only in what was aptly labeled by radio journalist Amy Goodman as a "kinda culpa"), only to promptly return to its old habits as it reported on the "progress" of the occupation. To be fair to the "Old Gray Lady," most of the rest of the "mainstream" media has been just as bad or worse. In contrast, Mitchell (as editor of Editor & Publisher) was on the job long before and long after, scrutinizing in regular columns the failures of the media to act as a true fourth estate and diligently investigate the many dubious claims of the Bush administration concerning Iraq. Eighty of those columns are collected here, chronologically ranging from January 2003's ruminations on press self-censorship regarding the impending attack through October 2007's questioning of the lack of coverage of the growing number of "non-hostile" deaths among American soldiers in Iraq. Annotation ©2008 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)
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It is often said that a free press is the watchdog of democracy, insuring that the conduct of our leaders is examined with a critical eye. This makes Greg Mitchell the watchdog of watchdogs, as tracking the performance of the media is his beat at Editor & Publisher, the influential magazine of the newspaper industry. Over the past five years, his weekly column “Pressing Issues,” has intensely scrutinized the coverage of the Iraq war, the media’s views of the credibility of the Bush Administration, and such related topics as 9/11, the war in Afghanistan, and the CIA Leak Case. Now, as the war in Iraq reaches its 5th anniversary, this first-ever collection, with more than 75 of Mitchell’s columns, provides a unique history of the conflict, from the hyped WMD stories to the “surge.” Back in 2003, Mitchell was one of the few mainstream journalists to question the grounds for war. Today, Mitchell looks ahead at lessons for the future with an original introduction and connecting material that updates and unifies his original essays. From prescient early columns warning of a long, bloody war to Stephen Colbert’s in-his-face mockery of President Bush to a piece titled “No Pat Answers in the Tillman Case,” this book will appeal to press critics, bloggers, media professionals, teachers, students, and everyone concerned with how we got into Iraq and why we can’t seem to get out. With more than 160,000 American troops still fighting there, debate over the war continues to rage on news and editorial pages from big city dailies to weekly papers in small towns. Against this controversial backdrop, Greg Mitchell is the one reporter examining all the coverage and taking the long view of the press’s performance.
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