LA Times Takes Step in Right Direction

Over the weekend the Los Angeles Times offered a glimmer of hope that there are once again main-stream media outlets who are truly behaving as journalists and investigating stories rather than simply regurgitating talking points and press releases.

On Sunday (Feb 25) the LA Times ran a front page article under the headline U.N. calls U.S. data on Iran's nuclear aims unreliable. Some of the more pertinent information contained in the article includes the fact that very little if any information provided by US intelligence services regarding weapons programs within Iran have panned out.

"Since 2002, pretty much all the intelligence that's come to us has proved to be wrong," a senior diplomat at the IAEA said. Another official here described the agency's intelligence stream as "very cold now" because "so little panned out."

The reliability of U.S. information and assessments on Iran is increasingly at issue as the Bush administration confronts the emerging regional power on several fronts: its expanding nuclear effort, its alleged support for insurgents in Iraq and its backing of Middle East militant groups.


This article is encouraging in that the Times writers have done some investigating of their own on a topic that is of crucial importance as the Bush Administration continues to increase the fervor of the accusations it levels against Iran. In light of the faulty intelligence that was used to mislead America into Iraq it is imperative that the public, particularly the main stream media outlets upon whom so much of the public relies for their information, demand that accusations be backed with clear evidence and that rhetoric alone not be allowed to pass for truth unchallenged.

Unfortunately the LA Times is alone in its desire to investigate the evidence being proffered as to Iran's nuclear weapon ambitions and plans. The New York Times failed to even pick up on the reporting done by their west coast colleagues. The Washington Post offered little better, with no mention in their print editions and one paragraph linking to the LA Times story on the fourth of five pages of an online column. None of the major wire services (with the exception of the Tribune Service, the LAT is a Tribune owned paper) picked up the story. It was similarly ignored by all of the major broadcast and cable television outlets.

In startling contrast to this dearth of actual journalism all of the major main-stream media outlets have been running full coverage of the Bush Administration and UN Security Council claims of continued Iranian defiance.

While Iran may well be pursuing nuclear options it is important that more than just the easy story offered by those in power here in the US be provided to the American People. This road has been traveled recently with disasterous results. The main-stream media owes it to the American People to fulfill its journalistic responsibilities and ensure that the tough and necessary questions concerning the Bush Administration's dealings with Iran are not only asked but answered as well.

(The LAT article is also on CommonDreams)