Is the media being hypocritical about Brian Williams?
Since Brian Williams鈥� account of his experience in the Iraq War has come under scrutiny and Mr. Williams has gone on self-imposed suspension, some in the media have called into question his ethics as a reporter.
Monday night, one of cable television鈥檚 pillars threw Mr. Williams a lifeline, or at least put Mr. Williams鈥� actions in the broader context as one brushstroke on a canvas of poor journalism conducted in the lead-up to the Iraq War. Jon Stewart on "The Daily Show" the same media that but have not acknowledged their own errors in reporting on the second Bush Administration鈥檚 case for going to war.
Mr. Stewart, in his , showed a clip of Vice President Dick Cheney on NBC's "Meet the Press" from November of 2002, citing a New York Times article from which he claimed that then-Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein鈥檚 regime was attempting to obtain聽aluminum tubes that could be used in centrifuges to enrich uranium.聽
However, it was later revealed that administration officials leaked the information to the New York Times, and the paper ran with the story despite no evidence of ever turning up over the course of the war, according to IraqWatch.org. According to Iraq Watch, there were estimates that Iraq could produce up to 1.5 nuclear bombs a year back in the late 1980s before international sanctions dismantled the program following the first Gulf War. Stewart also played a clip of the Times鈥� executive editor, Bill Keller, saying that he was satisfied with the journalism his organization did before the war.
Mr. Stewart鈥檚 larger point was the media, as a whole, let the American people down by not better scrutinizing the Bush Administration鈥檚 case to go to war. In the wake of 9/11, the administration capitalized on Americans' fear and portrayed Saddam Hussein as a willing partner for Al Qaeda and that he was pursuing weapons of mass destruction.
鈥淔or some people this might seem like overkill but for me? No it鈥檚 not overkill because I鈥檓 happy. Finally! Someone is being held to account for misleading the American people about the Iraq War.鈥� - Jon Stewart on the Daily Show
Mr. Stewart also called out Mr. Williams for letting the desire of his "" get in the way of his his duties as a journalist.
So why does the media attack Mr. Williams鈥� one inaccurate anecdote in a war in which the inaccurate case for going to war was widely circulated in mass media?
According to Fortune Magazine, the other journalists have displayed when discussing Mr. Williams' current situation should not come as a surprise. Media views its role as conveying the truth to the public. So, when a within its circle stretches the truth to generate more buzz for a story, the pundits will circle the wagons and devour each other, the business magazine reported.
Two recent examples of this include the reaction to Fox News on-air personalities' referring to "Muslim in France and England and the reporting by CBS "60 Minutes" correspondent Lara Logan on the deadly attack on the US Consulate in Benghazi, Libya.
