Anyone who pays attention to the media's performance since September 11 knows that the usual dynamic between press and government deteriorated even further as the press stopped asking any questions and allowed the government to set the agenda. At first blush, this made sense as everyone got scared in the wake of 9/11 and the public saw the government like a child views his father.

But on second blush, this was bull. The media simply failed us and allowed the President to beat the war drums all the way to Iraq. Few of us were thinking about war with Iraq on September 12, but the government clearly was, according to first-hand accounts of the Bush administration.

A good summary of the media's failures in this regard was just posted on Salon.com. Here is the opening paragraph, which I provide as a teaser:

It's no secret that the period of time between 9/11 and the invasion of Iraq represents one of the greatest collapses in the history of the American media. Every branch of the media failed, from daily newspapers, magazines and Web sites to television networks, cable channels and radio. I'm not going to go into chapter and verse about the media's specific failures, its credulousness about aluminum tubes and mushroom clouds and failure to make clear that Saddam Hussein had nothing to do with 9/11 -- they're too well known to repeat. In any case, the real failing was not in any one area; it was across the board. Bush administration lies and distortions went unchallenged, or were actively promoted. Fundamental and problematic assumptions about terrorism and the "war on terror" were rarely debated or even discussed. Vital historical context was almost never provided. And it wasn't just a failure of analysis. With some honorable exceptions, good old-fashioned reporting was also absent.

Sounds like a good start. Read the rest here.