Why Oh Why Can't We Have a Better Press Corps? (Michael Abramowitz of the Washington Post Edition)

A little more than a week ago, we were sent rolling on the floor in howls of laughter after reading this sentence by Washington Post White House reporter Michael Abramowitz:

Brad DeLong's Semi-Daily Journal: Why Oh Why Can't We Have a Better Press Corps? (Yet Another Washington Post Edition): It has not helped the neoconservative case, perhaps, that the occupation of Iraq has not gone as smoothly as some had predicted...

with its unmistakeable echoes of the Emperor Hirohito's surrender broadcast at the end of World War II:

Whiskey Bar: The Hirohito Effect: "Despite the best that has been done by everyone... the war situation has developed not necessarily to our advantage."

A number of Washington Post staffers told me that they thought Abramowitz intended his sentence to be read straight. But I couldn't quite believe it. So I wrote to Abramowitz and asked him whether the echoes of Hirohito were intentional, and he was being snarky.

He doesn't dare to reply.

So it is true. Abramowitz's sentence does indeed reveal how pathetically, incompetently, ridiculously weak he is: somebody who dares not do more than hint at the truth about the occupation of Iraq--that the occupation of Iraq has been a huge, horrible fiasco because of the incompetence, disconnection from reality, malevolence, and mendacity of the Bush administration--because if he does somebody might call him up and speak harshly to him. Somebody who thinks making a huge joke of himself is preferable to crossing White House media affairs in even a small way.

Tom Ricks's Fiasco talks about the failures of the American press corps, including the Washington Post--about the media's "inability... to find alternate sources of information [outside the Bush administration] about Iraq and the threat it did or didn't present to the United States," and because "Republicans weren't going to confront their own president and the Democrats were enfeebled.... The media didn't stand up because they had no one to quote."

But what's Abramowitz's excuse today? He has plenty of people to quote. Alternate sources of information abound. The example of Michael Abramowitz indicates that Ricks should have written "The media didn't stand up because they did not want to."

Comments

[Invigilator]

And the truth shall set you free! Though it seems it must be avoided at all cost.

[Karlsfini]

"...the media's "inability... to find alternate sources of information..."

There are no journalists anymore, not in our air-tight corporate-media bubble. The Make-believe Nation doesn't need them.

We need celebs, lots more celebs -- and of course endless credit and everything will be fine.

[Karlsfini]

Anne, you may be off traveling and not see this, but apparently unnoticed, nearly all the birds are gone from this part of Minnesota. It’s no doubt the record heat and drought, but first the robins, then the catbirds, jays, wrens, and most of the sparrows disappeared.

As you know, cardinals are the first birds up in the morning and the last to go to bed, but for 3 or 4 mornings now it’s been silent. No cardinals at all. Not even the sound of a warbler. I saw a broad-wing hawk way high this morning and some crows, nothing else.

So where do the birds go when conditions are bad all across a continent? Do they migrate early, fly at night? And do non-migratory birds go along? I’m betting nothing like this has ever happened before.

Of course most happy folks are sealed up in air-conditioning in front of the TV, don’t know and couldn’t care less.

[John Emerson]

Karlsfini, I think that in the heat the birds lie low in the bushes. I still see them at the bird bath, but they don't seem to be eating much. (Also in Minnesota).

[Warren]

Th md cnnt stnd p. Nt vn th Wll Strt Jrnl dtrl Pg cn stnd p. nl ndvdls cn stnd p. Rprtrs r rqrd t rprt. Brd's d s t rplc rprtng wth dtrlzng n th frnt pg. Brd knws ths s bd d bt wnts t prssr th rprtrs nw. Ths s pprxmtl fr thng t d s pltcl mv, nt s rlstc rqst. T sk th md t hv rprtd n th prblms n rq ltr s t sk thm t knw n dvnc tht th nsrgnc ws gng t hppn nd tht t wld g th w t hs. f Brd cn shw s hw ths wld hv bn pssbl wld b dlghtd t s t. vn ths wh crtczd th ffrt frm th bgnnng n th lck f pst nvsn plnnng hd n vw f th trbl t cm. Crtnl rprtr cnnt rprt s fct th ftr h cnnt s. Pls Brd, tll s hw, whn ll th lfts wr shtng "Lt th snctns wrk" (t fnd th WMD's) th prss ws sppsd t knw th wr gn.

[Karlsfini]

John, thanks. Let's watch and see if they come out of hiding as things cool off or when rain comes. (And hang in there. I saw it was 111 somewhere in S. Dakota on Friday.)

What's strange is the lack of twittering and chirping -- even before dawn when it's still cool.

I'm an outlander, but I don't think it's ever been like this in Minnesoooda before.

[dale]

I heard a report that 100s of thousands of water fowl have died in California. But I haven't heard any reports of song birds in distress. I hope John is right that they are laying low.

[Dean Baker]

Warren,

I'm struk by the comment:

"Even those who criticized the effort from the beginning on the lack of post invasion planning had no view of the trouble to come. Certainly a reporter cannot report as fact the future he cannot see."

well, I am just a humble economist and do not study and write on the Middle East for a living. But based on my casual reading on the situation, I did know that the United States would be facing a prolonged guerilla war in Iraq. (I told my friends that Bush would not actually go to war, because surely his people must understand this, and can't possibly want the U.S. bogged down in a lengthy and bloody occupation. I was wrong on the Bush part.)

I'm a sharp guy, but I can't be that much smarter than all the people who actually do study the region. If the reporters could not find "experts" who warned about the possibility of guerilla war, then they should be fired.

[Karlsfini]

Warren: “Please Brad, tell us how, when all the lefties were shouting "Let the sanctions work" (to find the WMD's) the press was supposed to know they were gone.”

Naw, Warren, real lefties don’t shout. At least I didn’t hear any shouting like that. And the sanctions were a stupid idea from the start.

What sensible, mentally balanced people were asking is where’s the evidence, how great is the risk, and what are the alternatives?

Real reporters would have been asking those questions too. Real reporters, like William Shirer working for Hearst in Germany in the ‘30s recognized mass hysteria when he saw it, as did reporters watching China during the Cultural Revolution. After 911 U.S. news-people were blind to the mass hysteria all around them.

Fortunately for us, the evil men standing by to take advantage of that hysteria in order to usher in a police state turned out to be incompetent evil men.

We’re not out of the woods, of course, but the press failed us because there no longer is any press in the traditional, watch-dog sense.

Warren, it’s not going to be easy for you to break out of the bubble. First thing you’ve got to do is let go of terms like lefty and righty. They don’t mean a thing anymore. There are only grades of sanity and insanity.

[howard]

first off, knight ridder demonstrated that it was absolutely possible to find alternative sources of information; actually, there were wapo reporters who told the truth about the exaggerations prior to the war, only they were sentenced to page a16 for their deviationism.

and second of all, let me echo dean's remarks to warren: the notion that no one could have predicted the insurgency is laughable. even i predicted it, and i'm probably not even as sharp as dean baker.

as for the wmds, there were inspectors on the ground, finding nothing, until bush ordered them out. i am among the many who believe that the term wmd should be reserved for nuclear weapons, and it was certainly clear that there was no nuclear weapons program by the time we invaded.

warren, it's much too late in the day for this kind of fantasizing.

[John Emerson]

"Even those who criticized the effort from the beginning on the lack of post invasion planning had no view of the trouble to come."

False, false, false.

What a tool you are, Warren.

The planners were idiots, the critics weren't.

[anne]

The fledging time for song birds has come and gone and there is no reason to believe there were problems. Nestings appeared to be earlier almost everywhere for song birds, and the heat should be weathered as long as there is shade and water. Water should be no problem, as food is no problem, because of us, but appropriate shade means that we will see fewer birds and hear almost no singing through the heat. Those of you in the city will see more birds through the heat than those in the country, and in the city look for birds with beaks open and wings spread to offer more cooling surface.

[anne]

Dale's note about problems with California water birds is worrying and we must check. Water birds did not nest early, and heat might effect them directly during nesting or indirectly through lessening food sources if water warmth was changed. I had not known of a problem however, nor had southern California friends who always watch water closely birds mentioned problematic conditions below Santa Barbara.

[anne]

http://www.calvorn.com/gallery/photo.php?photo=5452&u=4|31|...

Green Heron Chicks Being Fed
New York City--Central Park, The Ramble.

[anne]

http://www.calvorn.com/gallery/photo.php?photo=6709&u=96|3|...

Green Heron Chicks Being Fed
New York City--Central Park, The Ramble.

[billmon]

Tom Ricks's Fiasco talks about the failures of the American press corps, including the Washington Post--about the media's "inability... to find alternate sources of information [outside the Bush administration] about Iraq and the threat it did or didn't present to the United States," and because "Republicans weren't going to confront their own president and the Democrats were enfeebled.... The media didn't stand up because they had no one to quote."

This, of course, is utter horse shit. The truth is there were plenty of people to quote -- but the lickspittles in the corporate media didn't find them "credible" enough.

[anne]

The comments are especially telling and saddening. Thank you.

[Ian Whitchurch]

Warren,

Found it. The D-squared Doctrine, which I will quote from

http://d-squareddigest.blogspot.com/2002_10_20_d-squareddigest_archive.html

The official policy of D-Squared Digest with respect to Iraq is now that we support a policy of containment until after the 2004 Presidential elections, and after that, we will support immediate war with Iraq if and only if someone other than George W Bush is elected

I could dress that up by going "WHEREAS" a lot and turning it into a manifesto, but I've never really had any problems with thinking of new ways to call anyone who disagrees with me an idiot, so it seems a bit pointless to bother. Basically, the idea is that I'll support a war just so long as that idiot currently in charge has nothing whatever to do with it. Thinking about it, I don't want to sign up to a different figurehead for the Perle/Wolfowitz Axis of Idiocy, so maybe I should just tell the truth and shame the devil; I'll only support a war if it's the Democrats fighting it. I would like to find some warblogger with a decent argument against this view; strikes me that I can accept all the arguments about containment, inspection, risk, etc, etc and still hold the statement in bold italics just above. Nobody believes that Saddam will have nukes by 2004 ....

[Matt]

Brad,

You're drawing a CLEARLY unwarrented conclusion. When I read that sentence, I assumed it was either a debliberate asllusion to Hirohito's surrender speech, or failing that, broad and damning irony. There is a chance, of course, that I'm so entrenched in my point of view that I'm projecting that view onto others. But if the comments were meant to be allusion (and thus ironic) or simply ironic, how could Abramowitz confirm for yor--ON THE RECORD? Exactly what sort of wink/wink, nudge/nudge message did you expect?

[anne]

"Even those who criticized the effort from the beginning on the lack of post invasion planning had no view of the trouble to come. Certainly a reporter cannot report as fact the future he cannot see."

Just after the Iraqi government was deposed, there was a panel discussion on public television news. Panel member after member saw not the slightest reason to question the occupation of Iraq, which puzzled me for why did Iraq have to be occupied? However, the chair of Columbia University's Middle East studies program spoke and told the group we had to leave Iraq immediately to avoid a fierce insurgency; this was before there was an insurgency. The anchor for public television immediately responded by asking, "do you mean we should cut and run?" There was no answer, for how could there have been, and the panel moved on to approving occupation.

We generally heard only what we wished to hear, and we generally wished a war and occupation. The few who understood were ignored, or set aside as "cutters and runners."

[anne]

http://www.calvorn.com/gallery/photo.php?photo=3341&exhibition=3

Great Blue Heron Landing
New York City--Central Park, Harlem Meer.

[Karlsfini]

Anne, Thanks. I went out walking around in rolling hills on the edge of forests and ponds for a few hours this afternoon, tropical heat and humidity that would have made Stanley and Livingston cry. Tough as nails, that's me.

Saw one cardinal, a female goldfinch and a dead crow. (heat? heart attack? West Nile?) Saw one sickly mosquito (in Minnesota?) just after sundown and killed it. No swallows or swifts or night hawks, no ducks, herons, or geese.

I've been outdoorsy all my life, not like Muir or Geronimo maybe, but a good scout just the same, and I've never seen anything like this before.

Just like the quarterly economic reports tell us how things were like last April, we'll probably read about this sometime next winter.

Billmon, we're full-square even and if the question of money ever comes up between us again, I'm a low-down skunk. I owe you a round. I'll stop by your place tomorrow.

[Tedb]

Anne, I live in St. Paul, MN, and there is a female cardinal sitting on a nest of three eggs in a hedge in my backyard.

[anne]

Karlsfini, I am not pleased about what you are noticing since you know what to expect, and I will look thoroughly for supporting accounts today. A dead crow is always a worry these days, and heat should not be a problem as long as there is water about. West Nile virus reports should be coming through this whole month.

TedB, watching cardinals nest and raise fleglings is wonderful but this will make them late for fledging in Minnesota this year. City birds are much more obvious, for they do not treat people as sorts of hawks.

[anne]

http://www.calvorn.com/gallery/photo.php?photo=5941&u=4|2|...

Northern Cardinal Taking Flight
New York City--Central Park, The Ramble.

[anne]

http://www.calvorn.com/gallery/photo.php?photo=6326&u=99|2|...

Female Cardinal Singing
New York City--Central Park, The Ramble.

[Bupa]

Dear Brad,

Please stop the persecution of Michael Abramowitz.

[Have you gone two doors down and told him: "It's pretty clear the media's "he said, she said" approach is not accomplishing its primary job of informing people of what's happening in the world.... The sad fact is that as bad as [the WP is], they are still better than most media"? If not, why not.]

He lives two doors down from me. He's a good father, a good neighbor, and a decent journalist. He doesn't deserve to be singled out for public execution.

[Public ridicule: how should one respond when somebody says something ridiculous?]

Is your fixation on Michael personal? Did you overlap at Harvard?

Clearly, despite the similarity of the understatement in Michael's piece and Hirohito's surrender broadcast the two situations are not very similar. Hirohito gave his surrender broadcast following two atomic bombs killings thousands of his subjects when his island country was surrounded by an enemy ready to invade and nobody knew for sure how many more atomic bombs might by dropped in future. The Iraq war is a fiasco, predictably so, but no US government will give a surrender broadcast because that is not the way this type of war will be lost. It will be lost like Vietnam with an inglorious withdrawal.

Also, as an astute commentor pointed out on your original slap to Michael, the "perhaps" refers to the first clause, not the second.

Let me repeat a comment from Friday. On Friday Paul Krugman wrote:

"...Harris Poll reported that 50 percent of Americans now believe that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction when we invaded, up from 36 percent in February 2005. Meanwhile, 64 percent still believe that Saddam had strong links with Al Qaeda."

It's pretty clear the media's "he said, she said" approach is not accomplishing its primary job of informing people of what's happening in the world.

You target the NYTimes and the Washington Post. The sad fact is that as bad as they are, they are still better than most media. How about aiming some of your fire at media that reach a far larger audience than these East-coast newspapers like CNN and (if you can stomach it) Fox news? If you can't stomach the latter you can always contract it out as you do the National Review.

[RT]

Ricks was on NPR yesterday afternoon, on Bob Edwards' Sunday afternoon show. He discussed Congress' failures, the media's failures, etc. during the run-up to war and during the early stages of the war.

When he discussed Congress' failures, he pretty much did a 'both sides are to blame' number, pointing out Congress' unwillingness to hold hearings, the Dems' lack of interest in asking hard questions for fear of seeming unpatriotic, and the GOP's unwillingness to go up against the White House.

Driving down I-95, I kept on yelling at the radio, "the REPUBLICAN CONGRESS' failure to hold hearings!!!"

Damned hard for the Dems to ask good questions if there isn't a hearing to ask them at.

But Ricks just did the usual media thing of apportioning blame evenly between the parties, despite the reality that only one of those parties was in a position to initiate oversight.

I appreciate his contribution to the historical record, but he still hasn't broken out of the boxes that have kept the media from reporting honestly.

[Barry]

In other words, he's telling only as much of the truth as he feels necessary to preserve his reputation.

[ilsm]

Anne,

In New England the Canadas are grazing in the shade.

Otherwise the administration was merely setting us up for bankruptcy and the Bush II reelection.

[a different chris]

>Brd's d s t rplc rprtng wth dtrlzng n th frnt

Although the troll vowel stripping is way funny, does anybody else but me have the problem that they are totally compelled to re-construct the post in their heads?

If you met me in person you'd note that in pretty much every observable way I'm the total opposite of Tony Shalhoub's "Monk" character..more Oscar Madison.

...but inside I'm forever sharpening pencils to the same length, straightening furniture, spell-and-grammar checking everything I read &etc.

I get on my own nerves with it.

However, I do think "dtrlzng" deserves to be an actual word of some sort.

[rea]

"I do think 'dtrlzng' deserves to be an actual word of some sort."

Detrolizing?