How did the corporate media get the Iraq war so wrong? This is a question that has resurfaced with former Bush press secretary Scott McClellan’s new book “What Happened: Inside the Bush White House and Washington’s Culture of Deception” and the newly released report by the bipartisan Senate panel that found top officials repeatedly “exaggerated” Saddam Hussein’s threat.
With its millions of dollars in revenue and years of professionalism at their disposal, you would think that the corporate media could have ripped the lid off of the cooked intelligence on weapons of mass destruction and the supposed link between Iraq and 9/11 by the Bush administration.
But they didn’t.
Yet, your newspaper, with its tiny but dedicated staff and volunteer writers, campaigned tirelessly every week from July 2002 until March 19, 2003, to inform the public of the bogus rationale for war. Here are a few examples:
July 2002:
Bush plan to invade Iraq meets growing opposition
September 2002:
Control of oil fuels Bush war against Iraq
October 2002:
Sen. Byrd: Slow down. Ask questions.
NBC and other corporate networks devoted just some 32 words to Sen. Ted Kennedy’s antiwar political speech in September 2002. And NBC anchor Tom Brokaw recently justified it. “All wars are based on propaganda,” he said. “The White House has an unbelievable ability to control the flow of information at any time but especially at a time when they are planning to go to war.”
You would think that Brokaw and the others would have worked just a little bit to find some other “flow of information.” After all, your newspaper did. Here are more examples:
Mandela, Carter, lawmakers: ‘Let UN inspectors work’
(Feb. 8, 2003)
Powell at UN caught in web of lies
(Feb. 15, 2003)
Sen. Byrd: Reckless administration may reap disaster
(Feb. 22, 2003)
When push comes to shove, corporate news takes the side of the super rich and powerful.
You deserve a newspaper that takes the other side. That will bring you the truth, always.
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