With the “sluggish” coverage of the Downing St. Minutes and the attempts to discredit Newsweek, it might seem as if a free press is truly in the last throws of death. Having been branded for years with “liberal bias” by the right wing noise machine, the 2004 election cycle only helped to nail the coffin on an independent media. There was the humiliating resignation of Dan Rather, and the media’s miscalculation of Karl Rove’s ability to rally an army of right wing religious zealot’s with “moral values” issues to deliver the election to an incumbent who could not poll above a fifty percent approval rating. They totally missed the early signs of vote fraud and manipulation, and once again had to deal with claims of “faulty exit polling”. “How could we have missed this?” was the general tone of the punditry on the evening of November 3rd. They appeared to be rolling over dead.
Having been living with a lap dog media that was comatose at best, and in many cases appeared to be collaborators with the political right, the imminent death of the free press has gone relatively unnoticed by the public in general. As long as a steady stream of Scott Peterson and other such trifles could be viewed on screen, or read in a tabloid by an American public grown complacent by mediocrity, there has been a general satisfaction by most that they have seen “All the news that’s fit to print”.
Within the past few days it appears that the rumors of the press’s demise may have been exaggerated. Although still on life support, a combination of provoking from the “liberal” side of the blogosphere and prodding by certain members of Congress seems to have breathed some new life into the dying beast. This emergency resuscitation coupled with a right wing whose reach seems to have exceeded its grasp on such issues as Shiavo, the filibuster, and social security could prove to be just what the doctor prescribed. As the President’s approval ratings continue to fall along with those of the Republican Congress, a newly emboldened 4th estate might be starting to come back to life.
As we’ve all become aware, in the last few days there seems to have been a flurry of activity from the press on a variety of topics. The Downing St Minutes were picked up in the print press by Knight Ridder, the LA TIMES, the WASHIGTON POST and Paul Krugman at the NYT. On cable news it was covered on CNN, and featured on Keith Olberman’s “Countdown” on MSNBC. Scott McClellan had to address it and Condoleezza Rice faced questions on the subject from a somewhat hostile Andrea Koppel during a joint press conference with British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw. Although Rice tried to brush off the questioning, she was finally forced to acknowledge the “memo” even if she did revert to standard pre-war talking points to avoid giving any substantive answer.
The Galloway story also seemed to demonstrate another increase in the intestinal fortitude of the press. The press was fully aware of Galloway’s reputation for fiery rhetoric and his staunch anti-war credentials. They fully anticipated the fact that at the end of the day “Gorgeous George” would be picking pieces of Smilin’ Norm flesh from between his teeth. It was the mismatch of the century. Knowing this, CNN ran it live and every news agency covered it. Clips were show on virtually every TV news outlet, and most papers carried stories with extensive quotes. This kind of coverage would have been unheard off a few short months ago. Galloway’s 47 min. of testimony became a shot heard `round the world.
The NEWSWEEK issue has proved to be a shot in the arm for the ailing press corp. On Wednesday, during a regular press conference, the press seemed to explode on Scott McClellan
with a fury we haven’t seen in ages. Not since the days of Nixon has the press appeared so adversarial. An excellent recounting of the exchange was covered at dKos by diarist Magorn. Although the motivation of the press on this subject is unquestionably suspect, the fact that they are willing to put up this kind of fight after years of complacency is a very encouraging sign.
Although I believe we are far from pronouncing that the patient has been cured, this newly invigorated press seems to finally be taking baby steps back to a position where they can fulfill their obligation as the public’s watchdog over a Government run amuck.
I can only hope that the trend continues and they reexamine Gannon and all the implications of that story from Plame to TANG. They could take on Delay and his improprieties. They should further explore the Downing Minutes and the whole story of the lies that led to the occupation of Iraq. Maybe they might reexamine the voting irregularities in the last election. Then there’s Haliburton, Gonzales, PNAC, Dobson, Tax cuts, The Patriot Act, 9/11, Afghanistan, Chilabi, “No Child Left Behind”, the gutting environmental regulations, election reform, campaign finance reform, Pearle and Feith, AIPAC, “faith based initiatives”, redistricting, and a list that goes on forever.
A healthy press could have a field day with this current administration if only they had the stomach to. I know it’s probably just a dream, but oh what a beautiful dream it would be.
Update [2005-5-19 21:5:52 by Duke1676]:
NYT JUST BROKE STORY OF ABUSE AND DEATH OF AFGHAN PRISONERS IN US CUSTODY