Left I on the News

Just a few days ago I mentioned McClatchy reporter Jonathan Landay, and noted that you'd never see him on the major talk shows (Blitzer, Russert et al.) but only on Bill Moyers. And, lo and behold, yesterday, there he was, along with Editor & Publisher's excellent Greg Mitchell.

There was substantive talk re Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, etc., but some of the most interesting discussion was about the media, e.g.:

JONATHAN LANDAY: What's disappoints me is that here was an opportunity, once again, but a very large opportunity for major news organizations to do the mea culpa they never did, to admit that they indeed failed to do what they're supposed to do, failed to be the watchdogs they're supposed to be.

And yet we saw exactly the opposite for the most part. And I was just I was left breathless by some of the things that I heard where you heard correspondents say, "Well, we did ask the tough questions. We asked them to the White House spokesmen," Scott McClellan and others. And you say to yourself, "And you expected to get real answers? You expected them to say from the White House podium — 'Yeah, well, there were disagreements over the intelligence, but we ignored them'" when the President made his speeches and the Vice President made his speeches. No, I don't think so.

Hillary Clinton justifiably took a lot of flak for refusing to apologize for her vote authorizing the invasion of Iraq in light of subsequent knowledge. Would that the media would get similar amounts of flak, along the lines Landay discusses.