How and Why the Media F***ed Up

Gary Kamiya at Salon has as thorough an indictment and theory for how all levels of the mainstream American press screwed up after 9/11 and before the invasion of Iraq.

It’s a long-ish read, but both cogent and provocative. The mainstream press — your local newspaper, the local TV news and all the national outlets are “info-nannies”, responsible for maintaining a national consensus.

This is particularly good, “… our mass media is charged with presenting not just an accurate view of the world but also an ‘appropriate’ one.

“What ‘appropriate’ means in absolute terms is impossible to define. In practice, however, its meaning is quite clear. It’s reflected in a cautious, centrist media that defers to accepted national dogmas and allows itself to shade cautiously into advocacy on issues only when it has the popular imprimatur to do so.”

Obviously there is also the problem of deferring to commercial dogmas, but you can see where he’s going.

Excellent stuff.