CNN released an intriguing
response to the 10th anniversary of the U.S.-Iraq invasion, which
claimed over 104,000 people—Americans and Iraqi civilians. The invasion, under the command of the Bush
Administration, intended to overthrow the Hussein regime. Howard Kurtz, author of the referenced
article, wrote that the Iraqi invasion was the “media’s greatest failure in
modern times.” First and foremost, there
were never any WMDs found, and the media quieted reporters who questioned the
validity of the Administration’s reports, as it was deemed unpatriotic. The article also states that some pieces
which questioned what was happening in the administration were intentionally
buried, replaced by “administrative rhetoric” reported by the majority of other
news outlets.
Further,
the article reports that top-level executives such as Len Downie and Bob
Woodward from Washington Post focused so heavily on the goings-on of the administration
that the rationale of the Iraqi invasion was never fully questioned. “Groupthink” was very common and resulted in
mega-news stories such as “Doubts” by Tom Ricks to be buried because “it relied
too heavily on retired military officials,” those with experience in providing “rationale”
in the heated situation. Kurtz sums up by
urging the press to always question the motives of any administration, corporation,
or weapons exchange, for example, and asks that journalists and the media
always question actions and report the truth and never be complacent.
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