No WMDs, But Everyone Gets a Mulligan
Media failures contributed to both the "60 Minutes" fiasco and going to war on false pretenses. Guess which major announcement this week will get the most ink?
By Greg Mitchell
(January 12, 2005) -- It's only Thursday, and already it's clear that yesterday's official announcement that really, for sure -- no kidding -- there are no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq will get much less play in the media than the report on the "60 Minutes" fiasco released on Monday. That's odd, since the news stories share one important element: Neither was exactly a whopping surprise.
Actually, there's something else: Neither scandal would have ever happened if journalists had done a better job at the outset.
So how did the press react this morning to closing the book on WMDs? Most papers I have seen, with the exception of The Washington Post, did not play it on the front page. The New York Times ran a microscropic item on A16. It did devote an editorial to the subject, and, after mocking the White House and TV commentators, the Times acknowledged "our own failures to deconstruct all the spin and faulty intelligence." Then it went back to bashing the "fantasies of feckless intelligence analysts" and holding Prsident Bush strictly accountable for the fact that 40% of Americans still think WMDs are there.
While awaiting the fallout from the WMD non-finding finding, the blogosphere, as usual, rushed forward with some instant commentary. The blog known as The Poor Man quickly posted a revealing "quantitative" analysis yesterday, comparing Rathergate with the Claims of Saddam's WMD by the Media and the White House.
Here are some highlights, which I've slightly revised, with "R" standing for Rathergate and "WMD" for Weaponsgate. This is not to minimize the egregious "60 Minutes" failings but to highlight the lack of accountability for the egregious WMD claims:
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Investigation recently concluded R: Yes WMD: Yes
Number of firings resulting R: 4 WMD: 0
Use of highly questionable documents R: Yes WMD: Yes
Media spread questionable information R: Yes WMD: Yes
Central claim completely disproven R: No WMD: Yes
Number of wars started partly because of flawed journalism R: 0 WMD: 1
Cost to American taxpayer R: $0 WMD: $150 billion, so far
Number of American soldiers killed as a result R: 0 WMD: 1,357, as of now
Number of Iraqi civilians killed as a result R: 0 WMD: 10,000 to 100,000
Number of al-Qaeda training camps destroyed as a result R: 0 WMD: 0
U.S. reputation severely damaged as a result R: No WMD: Yes
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As the day went on, posters at the site made a few necessary additions.
CIA agents outed in effort to prevent or punish disclosure R: 0 WMD: 1
Resulting government contracts for Halliburton R: $0 WMD: $10 billion
Apologies issued by CBS: 2+ Apologies issued by the White House: 0
Medals of Freedom Awarded to those who played key role R: 0 WMD: 3
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And, I might add...
Key producer unwilling to admit wrongdoing R: Mary Mapes WMD: Judith Miller
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Greg Mitchell is the editor of E&P.