Psyche, Science, and Society

Bill Moyers: Buying the War

April 29th, 2007

On Wednesday, Bill Moyers presented Buying the War, his special that dissects the the prewar media “reporting” on the war, showing how the media willfully closed their eyes to the massive administration lies. For once, there are good guys, namely the wonderful reporters of Knight-Ridder, and a few others, who didn’t put their intelligence to the side as they propagated government propaganda.

Of course, there are the bad guys. In addition to the “reporters” who were just court scribes for official sources, the show demolishes Colin Powell’s UN speech, showing that it was not based so much on bad intelligence, as on downright lies and deception. Time and again, Powell declined to mention the obvious counter-interpretations to his nonsense. And the press bought it whole hog.

Other than Judith Miller, I’m not aware of a single journalist or pundit who resigns or was fired for what may be one of the most massive failures of reporting in modern times.

Watch the show here. And pass it on to others. The transcript can be read here.

Entry Filed under: Bush administration, Culture, Iraq, Media, War and Peace