Interesting doc on CBC Newsworld (like the BBC in the UK, or maybe akin to CNN in the US) ran this eve: "U.S. Media Blues."
Newsworld runs a regular series called "The Passionate Eye" -- which runs independent documentaries on all sorts of subjects, from any nation. I am partial to media analysis and manipulation. This was good. Examined the various mass media manipulations, comparing it to the Gulf War incubator baby story and the U.S. media failure to question ALL power. Doubt it could be viewed in the U.S., though. (And I somehow doubt Sinclair media is going to pick it up.) Official blurb I found online on CBC: U.S. MEDIA BLUES Monday October 25, 2004 at 10pm ET/PT "Reporters are not weapons inspectors…it's an absurd proposition that the press would be able to find these. I think the press reported on the debate very well." - Carl Bernstein "I found the coverage shameful and appalling. And I'm surprised…anyone would defend it." - Chris Hedges, war correspondent New York Times, Dallas Morning News "The press went into a coma." - Helen Thomas Dean of the White House correspondents. During the Viet Nam war, the adversarial role of the journalist played a vital role in challenging the U.S administration's foreign policy and helped end the conflict. The dirty tricks of Richard Nixon that became the Watergate scandal were exposed by two dogged young reporters whose work would help bring down a president. But times have changed. And now, those two famous journalists, Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, have publicly supported Bush's war on Iraq, while the rest of the media has, at least until recently, been less than challenging of the White House. U.S. Media Blues offers a provocative and often disturbing look at the current role of the print and electronic press in the context of the fiercely fought Presidential campaign. French filmmaker Yves Boisset asks what has happened to the combative nature of journalism in today's America? Have reporters covering the White House, until very recently, been acting more like stenographers than journalists? Has the American media turned into courtiers at the White House and the Pentagon? Embedding reporters with the military in Iraq may have given the media greater physical access to battle than ever before -- but has journalism itself paid a price? Has the mainstream press been AWOL in being critical of the White House? Among the prominent journalists addressing the issue of the media being lap dogs or watch dogs are: Ted Koppel, anchor for ABC's Nightline; Lewis Lapham, Editor in Chief, Harper's magazine; Carl Bernstein, Pulitzer Prize-winner for Watergate investigation; Scott Ritter, former UN weapons inspector, Iraq; and Jon Alpert, award-winning investigative journalist. U.S. Media Blues is directed by Yves Boisset; produced by Philippe Alfonsi for API Productions. Ken.