Is the Media Walking Us Into Another War? (Part II)
Is the Media Walking Us Into Another War? (Part II)
Recently in this space, I wondered if the media was willing to walk this nation into yet another war, much as they did in meekly accepting the Bush Administration’s false allegations that there were weapons of mass destruction in Iraq—a charge, incidentally, that many Americans still believe to this day, thanks largely to the news coverage they follow.
Now, with the press’s collective shrug over the foreign policy debate on Monday, the question becomes more urgent. Governor Romney’s amazing ignorance, indifference, and casual bellicosity on nearly every issue discussed seems to have gone largely unnoticed by our national press corps, even as it cost him the debate in the eyes of the general public.
A leading case in point was Steven Erlanger’s bizarre commentary for the New York Times. Erlanger, an experienced foreign correspondent, insisted that:
In general, there was a sense among analysts and observers outside the United States that these were two intelligent, competent candidates who do not differ overly much on the central issues of foreign policy and were actually debating with domestic constituencies in swing states foremost in mind.
In one passage, Erlanger alluded to foreign “analysts and observers” who felt Governor Romney was still an “intelligent, competent” candidate. This, despite Romney’s having proved that he didn’t know where Iran is. The passage was one of several implying that Erlanger wrote much of his dispatch before the evening’s festivities actually began. Another one was his claim that, “Not surprisingly, the attack that killed Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens and three other Americans last month in Libya was an important topic . . .” In fact, quite surprisingly, it wasn’t. Romney barely mentioned it this time around.