Send in the clowns:

Today, on Meet the Press, there was this exchange: (excerpts, emp add)

MR. RUSSERT: Let me turn to Iraq. A big discussion in our country about Iraq, the way the issue is being covered by the media. [...]

And then this Wednesday, President Bush went to a town meeting in West Virginia of his supporters, and here’s one of the questions that was asked:

(Videotape, March 22, 2006):
UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: And I ask you this from the bottom of my heart, for a solution to this, because it seems that our major media networks don’t want to portray the good. They just want to focus... [...] They just want to focus on another car bomb, or they just want to focus on some more bloodshed.

MR. RUSSERT: Does that issue work, that it’s the mainstream media that’s distorting the good news that’s coming out of Iraq?

MR. RUSSERT: David Broder?

MR. BRODER: The ombudsman at The Post, Deborah Howell, has a very thoughtful analysis of this whole question in the paper today, which I would refer people to. I think the answer is that when there is this level of violence and turmoil in a country, that has to be the heart of the story that the press is, is telling. The other parts of it do get told, but they do not dominate the news and they can’t dominate the news given the realities of that country.

Broder is referring to The Post and the Whole Picture in Iraq, which is typical Howell. And that's not a compliment.

In fact, over at Busy, Busy, Busy, a fine catch has been made of Howell's failure to think. Check it out.


posted by Quiddity at 3/26/2006 07:46:00 PM