Critics Say Coverage Helped Lead to War Critics of the war against Iraq are not reserving their anger exclusively for President Bush. Some also blame the news media, asserting that they failed to challenge the administration aggressively enough as it made a shaky case for war.
In an interview, Eric Alterman, a liberal media critic and author of "What Liberal Media?" (Basic Books, 2003) argued, "Support for this war is in part a reflection that the media has allowed the Bush administration to get away with misleading the American people."
The role of news organizations in wartime is routinely up for debate, with liberals and conservatives alike primed to see signs of bias, omission and too much or too little aggressive reporting and analysis.
With the war only two days old, conservative critics have already complained that networks have over-emphasized what they called out-of-context photographs of wounded Iraqi civilians. In particular, they have accused Peter Jennings of ABC News of being overly critical of the administration.
Reuters wrote:LOS ANGELES, March 28 (Reuters) - The CNN early morning anchor grows impatient with the live broadcast of an Iraqi press conference just as the information minister slams the "stupidity" of Iraq's American invaders.
So she tells viewers, "All right, we are going to interrupt this press briefing right now because, of course, the U.S. government would disagree with most of what he is saying."
A Los Angeles TV reporter covers an anti-war demonstration wearing a belt with an enormous American flag buckle. Flags also dot the corners of TV screens above crawl lines declaring that this war is called "Operation Iraqi Freedom."
News readers sport American flag lapel pins. A reporter in Kuwait tells viewers back home that U.S. troops have "tuned up their weapons like an orchestra on opening night."
Patriotism has burst out all over the airwaves since the Iraq war begun -- with some broadcast news consultants saying it is good for business to play the National Anthem at least once a day and to shy away from reporting too many anti-war protests. The Washington Post's ombudsman is peppered with complaints that anti-war news is getting relegated to the back pages.
