For More, ‘I Told You So.’

As if the prove the now well-accepted fact that the Fourth Estate failed in its duties prior to the start of the Iraqi War and through out the Bush Administration, Scott McClellan, former press secretary, completely denounces his former bosses. “If anything, the national press corps was probably too deferential to the White House and [...]Published May 28, 2008

Written by Joey

Photography introduced me to the 'new media' evolution. I currently do community management at Meraki in San Francisco, but this blog is about journalism, some UX design, and the occasional rant. more →

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“If anything, the national press corps was probably too deferential to the White House and to the administration in regard to the most important decision facing the nation during my years in Washington, the choice over whether to go to war in Iraq,” the former spokesman writes. “The collapse of the administration’s rationales for war, which became apparent months after our invasion, should never have come as such a surprise. In this case, the ‘liberal media’ didn’t live up to its reputation. If it had, the country would have been better served.”

-Bush’s Former Spokesman Scorches White House with Tell All Memoir | MediaCulture | AlterNet

The more that comes out, the more it becomes obvious what the failure of the press means. High level government officials broke the law. They’ve lied (hey, look at that I used the ‘L’ word) and not been held accountable. Furthermore, no one’s held the press accountable. Come to think of that… who is the press answerable to? What’s the check/balance for them? The people? I’ll leave this at “food for thought” before it becomes a rant.

Update:

The press is giving this story a fantastic spin. The media has decided to cover this story, by getting a reaction from the … White House. I guess when in doubt, turn to the administration to see what they have to say. Coverage could have swayed toward other former-administration insiders who have also publicly talked about the administration’s lies, but instead the media went with interviews from administration officials who said McClellan is “misguided for him to make these kind of broad accusations and draw these big conclusions about the president.” Here’s a link to the NY Times more balanced coverage.