{"id":268,"date":"2007-03-19T18:29:43","date_gmt":"2007-03-19T23:29:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/2007\/03\/19\/great-recap-of-media-debacles-etc-on-iraq-war\/"},"modified":"2007-03-19T21:46:25","modified_gmt":"2007-03-20T02:46:25","slug":"great-recap-of-media-debacles-etc-on-iraq-war","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/2007\/03\/19\/great-recap-of-media-debacles-etc-on-iraq-war\/","title":{"rendered":"Great Recap of Media Debacles etc. on Iraq War"},"content":{"rendered":"

The folks at Fairness and Accuracy in Media (FAIR) have a superb timeline<\/strong> <\/a>of media duplicity, cravenness, and occasional truth before and during the war with Iraq.<\/p>\n

[FAIR does some excellent analyses, even if they did\u00a0scowl<\/a><\/strong> at my work\u00a0in 1991.\u00a0\u00a0 They tagged me “the media’s favorite opponent of national agricultural programs” and complained,\u00a0\u00a0 “Bovard achieved an impact on media discourse far exceeding his ideas’ acceptance in Congress, academia or rural America.” FAIR did not share my enthusiasm for free markets.]<\/p>\n

It is especially helpful to recall the servility of most of the media\u00a0on Iraq\u00a0now, at a time when the Bush team and their lackeys are\u00a0beating the war drums to commence killing Iranians.<\/p>\n

Here’s the start of the FAIR analysis:<\/p>\n

Iraq and the Media: A Critical Timeline<\/strong><\/span>
\n<\/span>
\n3\/19\/07<\/span><\/p>\n

It’s hardly controversial to suggest that the mainstream media’s performance in the lead-up to the Iraq War was a disaster. In retrospect, many journalists and pundits wish they had been more skeptical of the White House’s claims about Iraq, particularly its allegations about weapons of mass destruction. At the same time, though, media apologists suggest that the press could not have done much better, since “everyone” was in agreement on the intelligence regarding Iraq’s weapons threat. This was never the case. Critical journalists and analysts raised serious questions at the time about what the White House was saying. Often, however, their warnings were ignored by the bulk of the corporate press.<\/span>This timeline is an attempt to recall some of the worst moments in journalism, from the fall of 2002 and into the early weeks of the Iraq War. It is not an exhaustive catalog, but a useful reference point for understanding the media’s performance. The timeline also points to missed opportunities, when courageous journalists\u2014working inside the mainstream and the alternative media\u2014uncovered stories that should have made the front pages of daily newspapers, or provided fodder for TV talk shows. By reading mainstream media critically and tuning into the alternative press, citizens can see that the notion that “everyone” was wrong about Iraq was\u2014and is\u2014just another deception….<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The folks at Fairness and Accuracy in Media (FAIR) have a superb timeline of media duplicity, cravenness, and occasional truth before and during the war with Iraq. [FAIR does some excellent analyses, even if they did\u00a0scowl at my work\u00a0in 1991.\u00a0\u00a0 They tagged me “the media’s favorite opponent of national agricultural programs” and complained,\u00a0\u00a0 “Bovard achieved […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[22,659,6,36,667],"class_list":{"0":"post-268","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"hentry","6":"tag-attention-deficit-democracy","8":"tag-bovard","9":"tag-iraq"},"yoast_head":"\nGreat Recap of Media Debacles etc. on Iraq War - James Bovard<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/2007\/03\/19\/great-recap-of-media-debacles-etc-on-iraq-war\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Great Recap of Media Debacles etc. on Iraq War - James Bovard\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The folks at Fairness and Accuracy in Media (FAIR) have a superb timeline of media duplicity, cravenness, and occasional truth before and during the war with Iraq. 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