Bill Moyer’s Buying the War documentary on PBS, about how the Washington press bought into the administration’s marketing campaign and enabled it during the runup to the Iraq War, obviously made a big splash this week. I haven’t had time to watch it all myself yet, but you can view the whole show online here.
Here’s a one-and-a-half-minute clip to get your feet wet:
And here’s a good five-minute excerpt. (Unfortunately, the sound is off-sync, so the audio doesn’t quite line up with the image, but it’s worth putting up with that.)
David Sirota says Washington reporters are in “meltdown, damage-control freak out mode” over the show. They ought to freak out. The fact is that the mainstream media failed to do its job during the first Bush term. They tossed aside their supposed objectivity, and failed the American public who depend on them to ask hard questions. Instead, people like Tim Russert and Chris Matthews bellied up to the Kool-Aid bar.
Digby highlights the show’s exchange between Moyers and Russert, and takes it apart in Hullabaloo’s usual eloquent style. One of the most annoying things Russert does in that exchange is to pull out his “I’m a blue-collar guy from Buffalo” act. I’m not sure if there’s anything more repellent than when these millionaire media celebrities — rich and powerful men by any standard — try to act like they’re jus’ plain folks, really just like the guys who work down at the plant, only, hey wow! — somehow they wound up with a teevee show. Never mind that they make more money in a week than a lot of hard-working Americans see all year.
Also, Atrios has a little snippet of Peter Beinart from The New Republic getting grilled by Moyers.
And here’s Bill Maher interviewing Moyers about the show.
Finally, if you haven’t seen it, don’t miss Kevin Tillman’s riveting testimony before the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. Kevin talks about his brother Patrick Tillman’s death in Afghanistan, and how the administration lied about it for propaganda purposes. Needless to say, it’s intense, and he has difficulty getting through it at times.
Madge Weinstein (a/k/a Richard Bluestein) of Yeast Radio did a terrific rant on Tim Russert last year, and how he rolled over on the whole Iraq thing. (I think at one point, she compared his face to somebody’s ass, which is neither here nor there, but it sure was enjoyable to listen to! :-))
It’s amazing how many of the so-called “serious journalists” in the mainstream media totally dropped the ball prior to the Iraq War. Journalists now seem to be more concerned with preserving their status as “consorts” to the elite in office instead of holding those elite under the magnifying glass, as is their job.