This blog post blasts NBC new and Tom Brokaw in particular for not admitting their failure to dig during the run up to the US invasion of Iraq. It makes its point well but in sources and detail pales in comparison to the excellent McClatchy column to which it provides a link.

Brokaw is an intellectually and morally bankrupt talking head. Mitchell captures the hideously costly failure of NBC to fact check the obvious lies that were fertilized and favored by almost all the neocons and their still captive right wing big corporate press that overwhelmingly beat the drums for war and drummed out any commentators or experts who spoke truth in attacking the lies. Well written and researched.

It is good journalism because it draws attention to a story that is not adequately reported: that a few, but too far too few, reporters challenged the propaganda; in contrast, all around us we have the over-reported and less important version of the story: here's a video of Dana Perino's reaction to Scott McClellan's book.

Nukes and Spooks, blogged by McClatchy (formerly Knight-Ridder) journalists who were among the few who noted in print that the emperor was wearing no clothes. A very good read and lots of links for further information.

This piece is important, not just because of what it says, but by whom is saying it. It is long overdue for the media -- of which I was once a part -- to look deeply into its own soul and come to grips with its own responsibility for the worst foreign policy decisions since Gulf of Tonkin took us into Vietnam. The media congratulates itself when it exposes the personal and professional failings in the business and political world. Yet it too often explains away its own failings.

An in-depth piece that amply demonstrates the callous after-the-fact justifications of big name TV journalists. The article misses the entire crux of the issue–as are many other pundits who concentrate on the actions of journalists themselves. The guilt originates at the top. The runup to the war, with all its administration pandering justifications, cheerleading, and hollow patriotism–was calculatedly mandated by what some TV journalists have now referred to as extreme pressure ... More »

The Brokaw excuses are lambasted as they should have been. The author is direct in his assertions against lemming-style MSM.

Fantastic review. Brokaw: "The White House has an unbelievable ability to control the flow of information at any time but especially at a time when they are planning to go to war." If he believed his organization's ability to work effectively was controlled by the White House he should have told his viewers so. Call it state media and be done with it. Mitchell makes that point very effectively.