New York Times: we were wrong on Iraq
The New York Times today issued an extraordinary mea culpa over its coverage of Iraq, admitting it had been misled about the presence of weapons of mass destruction by sources including the controversial Iraqi leader Ahmad Chalabi.
However, they printed it on page ten, rather than on the front page as they normally do with such apologies and neglected completely to mention Judith Miller, who wrote most of the articles, and who was one of the more noxious cheerleaders for the invasion. She is incompetent, did enormous damage, and should be fired.
Still, it made headlines worldwide. This is good! We now appear to be entering what I call Phase Two of such media events. Phase One is where the media ignores or continually distorts a story, mocking and scoffing those with opposing views. Phase Two occurs after they finally pick up on the story, start running with it, then realize they really screwed up during Phase One and begin blubbering apologies. Phase Three, which will no doubt be along soon enough after a few more weeks of anguished media apologies, will be when the media begins writing stories about how the media is apologizing. (And Phase Four is stories about all the stories about the apologies…)
Here’s a tip to the media: Next time, investigate and report competently from the beginning and don’t believe everything the government and their apologists tell you!