Bill Moyers - Buying The War

Mr. Moyers return to PBS is not to be missed. The 90 minute documentary recounts in detail just how badly the Washington press corps dropped the ball in the coverage of the lead-up to the invasion of Iraq.

By now many people have realized that they were hoodwinked by the Administration and the national media who consistently reported what President Bush and his supporters had to say as fact regardless of how wildly unlikely or untrue it might be.

Mr. Moyers documentary makes very clear that the information to question the Bush Administration's arguments was readily available. In fact it was put to use by the Knight-Ridder (now McClatchy) news service. The rest of the media failed to follow suit and instead lined up behind the administration and unquestioningly reported their claims as fact.

Perhaps the most devastating line is delivered late in the show by Norm Solomon:

I think these executives were terrified of being called soft on terrorism. They absolutely knew that the winds were blowing at hurricane force politically and socially in the United States. And rather than stand up for journalism, they just blew with the wind.

And-- Dan Rather, and others who say, yeah, you know. I was carried away back then. Well, sure. That's when it matters. When it matters most is when you can make a difference as a journalist.

The information was available, a very few made use of it but all too many let it go. Instead of making a difference and relentlessly pursuing the truth the Washington press corps abdicated its responsibility to its readers, the American public, and abandoned the very foundations of journalism.

Watch, Listen, or Read Buying The War