Hey, Media: US Jails Journos, Too

It's blindly beating the war drums once again: Glenn Greenwald

(NEWSER) - The American media took its lumps after the Iraqi war for not challenging the government's allegations against Saddam Hussein. It promised to learn its lesson. Guess what? The same thing is now happening in regard to Iran, with a twist: The media is actually "out in front of the US government in the propaganda effort rather than in their normal position of submissively marching behind," writes Glenn Greenwald in Salon . More»

Administration bemoans death of bully pulpit

(NEWSER) - Even if it seems like the president is constantly on TV and in the press, the White House says it’s struggling to get its message out: the “bully pulpit” is no more, writes Howard Kurtz for the Daily Beast . “There’s an alternative story here that we’re trying to tell,” says the president’s communications director. "But there’s an element of spitting in the ocean.” More»

Today's press too cozy with Washington

(NEWSER) - It wasn’t Walter Cronkite’s “avuncular persona” or his reaction to the JFK assassination that made him “the most trusted man in America,” Frank Rich writes in the New York Times—it was his willingness to challenge the halls of power. That’s become increasingly rare in today’s media, which failed Americans on the Iraq war and too often cozies up to politicians. "Journalistic responsibility cannot be outsourced to Jon Stewart," Rich writes. More»

(NEWSER) - Barack Obama has enchanted the media more than any president this side of Jack Kennedy, writes Robert Samuelson of the Washington Post. A recent Pew study concluded that Obama had enjoyed “substantially more positive media coverage,” than either Bush or Clinton during their first months. “On the whole, this is not healthy for America,” Samuelson opines, because Obama’s vast agenda isn’t being questioned. More»

No charges against photographer; military cites insurgent ties

(NEWSER) - Amid the outrage over journalist Roxana Saberi’s detention in Iran, the US is holding a Reuters photographer in Iraq without charges, the Los Angeles Times reports. Ibrahim Jassam, 31, has been held since September “as the result of his activity with a known insurgent organization,” said a US military rep. An Iraqi court ordered his release in November, but the US is still holding him, calling him a “high security threat.” More»