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American Media By Tyler Dawson

Abstract: This paper discusses the state of the American media in the decade following 9/11. A framework is crafted from the work of previous media theorists and the writing of the Supreme Court of the United States to understand the specific role of the fourth estate in American society. Once this is accomplished, this paper re-evaluates the success of the media in fulfilling its constitutional role, arguing that the media was, in fact, less deferential to the government line than many critics suggest, particularly following the abuses at Abu Ghraib. Finally, the case is made that institutionalised media is necessary to provide a check on government power, and the expansion of democratized news can only fulfil this mandate to a certain extent.

Introduction started the rumour in Milwaukee. If you look carefully I’m really a very accurate In 1972, Rolling Stone reporter Hunter journalist.”2 S. Thompson published Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail, ’72, an This anecdote highlights the way account of Democratic presidential in which the press can have a tangible candidate George McGovern’s effect on the government and the campaign, from the primaries until his democratic system. For Hunter S. eventual loss to Richard Nixon. In this Thompson, the intent of his reportage account, Thompson’s reportage was not to objectively regurgitate the solidified his reputation as the pioneer of facts, for he believed it was the charade “gonzo journalism.” At one point on the of media objectivity that allowed politicians to get away with their campaign Thompson fabricated a story 3 claiming that Edmund Muskie, one of nefarious deeds. It took subjectivity to McGovern’s competitors, was addicted ensure journalism stood as the fourth to an obscure drug called ibogaine, a estate check on government power that story that derailed Muskie’s campaign it was meant to be; anything less failed when major news agencies ran with the to fulfil this mandate. This evolution in story.1 In a television interview at the domestic journalism highlights a time, Thompson expressed transition in the way that journalism has astonishment that people had believed been done. The media has the power to his story, and clarified his reporting: “I dramatically alter the way that the public never said he was [eating ibogaine]. I 2 said there was a rumour in Milwaukee Alex Gibney, Gonzo: The Life and Work of that he was, which was true…and I Dr. Hunter S. Thompson, (Directed by Alex Gibney, Produced by Alex Gibney, 2008). 3 Hunter S. Thompson, “He Was a Crook,” 1 A quick Google search reveals that Rolling Stone, June 16, 1994. ibogaine is a hallucinogenic drug, though it http://www.theatlantic.com/past/docs/unbou can also be used to treat addiction to opiates nd/graffiti/crook.htm (accessed February 23, and amphetamines. 2011).

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26 perceives events as they happen, and traditional news media, the role that this applies to foreign policy as well as news is set to play in the future is domestic politics. uncertain at best. It raises an important set of questions. In particular, can However, in 2011, it is possible democratized news and commentary on that for the first time in American history, the Internet fill the void that might be left major news organizations might cease by newspapers and broadcast to exist as they fail to find a foothold in 4 journalism? If not, and frankly, even if it the market. The alternative is quite can, what impact will this have on plainly the Internet: democratic, free and politics and policy in the United States? unregulated – the ultimate marketplace of ideas. However, there is a downside It is the intention of this paper to to unregulated media, in the form of investigate the way in which the media content control. There may be a dearth affects the American political system. In of information on a given issue from a particular, I want to investigate the way major media organization, but there is that journalists and journalism have no way to ensure that the information influenced foreign policy in post-9/11 posted on a blog or Facebook, or via a America. The scope will be limited to the Tweet, is accurate. Indeed, the coverage of the George W. Bush democratization of news leaves us with administration’s aggressive foreign an unclear impression of the legitimacy policy in Afghanistan and Iraq. It is of the source. Throughout the ongoing charged by Victor Navansky, former crisis in the Middle East CNN’s editor of The Nation, that in the post- reportage has been littered with 9/11 period media organizations information that they could not “internalize[d] the official line,” and “independently verify,” that stems from subscribed to a “jingoistic brand of interviews directly from the streets.5 If patriotism.”6 More generally, critics we accept the importance of media as charge that the media abdicated its role vital to the function of democracy, we as a check on government power and are in an historical era where the exact instead acted as a mouthpiece for role that media is playing is patently government foreign policy, publishing unclear. More importantly, we cannot be little critical coverage. While I believe sure exactly how the media is going to this point is arguable, the point is that in play this role. The historical record 2011 whatever consensus that indicates that media has the power to dominated reporting after 9/11 has been sculpt public opinion and impact politics broken down significantly. In the final all over the world. With the decline of years of George W. Bush’s presidency, the media savaged him for foreign policy 4 Robert W. McChesney and John Nichols, issues such as Iraq, Afghanistan, and The Death and Life of American Journalism: Guantanamo Bay, not to mention The Media Revolution That Will Begin the domestic issues such as Hurricane World Again (Philadelphia: Nation Books, 2010), x. 5 In complete fairness to CNN, other 6 Victor Navansky, foreword to Journalism newspapers of record have had equally After September 11, edited by Barbie Zelizer unsubstantiated – though no less and Stuart Allan (New York: Routledge, newsworthy – statements. 2002), xv.

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Katrina, the environment, and the Utilizing a framework constructed economy. from the previous work of media theorists I will examine the criticisms Three years after the election of made of the media for its coverage of Barack Obama, American journalism is American foreign policy in the post-9/11 at a significant crossroads. The medium period. This will centre around two of journalism is in crisis, and while its charges made by critics: that the media future almost certainly lies with the did not have a sufficient critical Internet, the implications that this will discussion of Bush administration have for democratic governance in the policies, particularly regarding the Iraq United States has not been adequately War, and that there was an abdication of examined. However, the mainstream the “watchdog” role of the media. I will press has evolved since the early years argue that these criticisms neglect the of the twenty-first century, and has essential, paradigm-altering effect of the managed to find its critical voice, as attacks of September 11, which necessary in a democratic society. The impacted journalism until 2004. In media has bucked Navanksy’s charge addition, I will also use some of the that they are shills of the government recent secondary literature that line. This includes not just fringe suggests media coverage of foreign publications from the anti-war Left, but policy issues was not as lopsided as also newspapers of record: in 2007, the critics charge. Finally, I will demonstrate New York Times officially spoke out 7 that the incidents at Abu Ghraib against the Iraq War. However, recent revitalized “watchdog” journalism, and years have also seen increasingly the media quickly turned on the Bush vitriolic and polarizing political administration, re-establishing itself as a commentary from personalities such as critical force holding the government in Glenn Beck, Ann Coulter and Laura check. Ingraham. Not to pick solely on the Right, Michael Moore, Rachel Maddow Journalism and Foreign Policy: and Keith Olbermann could potentially Frameworks and Outcomes be added to the list as shrill personalities from the political Left. The role of the media in civil Therefore, American media is faced by society in the United States is a crisis of medium, but also is facing the manifested in two ways: its contributions to the marketplace of ideas, and its opportunity to further develop its critical 8 political voice. Because of that, the function as a watchdog of government. impact that journalism has had on Professor of Journalism Timothy Cook American foreign policy is a particularly suggests that these are the most important historical question, since we important roles of the media as necessarily must consider the role that it articulated by the Supreme Court of the might have in the future. United States and the Constitution. The First Amendment to the Constitution

7 Anthony DiMaggio, When the Media Goes 8 Timothy E. Cook, ed. Freeing the Presses: to War: Hegemonic Discourse, Public The First Amendment in Action (Baton Opinion, and the Limits of Dissent (New Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, York: Monthly Review Press, 2009), 11. 2005), 4-5.

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28 reads (among other things) that bulwarks of liberty.”12 Case law backs “Congress shall make no law…abridging the role of the media as a watchdog of the freedom of speech, or of the government, endowing substantial press…” an injunction that appears to powers to critique the government. In be perfectly clear on the privileged place New York Times Co. v. United States, of the press in America. Indeed, while the Court upheld in a per curiam ruling the Supreme Court has not been the right of the New York Times to particularly receptive to a “literalist” publish the Pentagon Papers without interpretation of the text of the prior restraint by the Nixon Constitution, there is no doubt that much administration.13 Justice Black’s of the power that the American media concurrence is a paean to the absolute has rests with decisions made by the superiority of the First Amendment, and Supreme Court of the United States. even went so far as to dismiss the right Justice William Brennan affirmed that of the government to hold its internal the purpose of the First Amendment secrets: “The guarding of military and was to ensure “unfettered interchange of diplomatic secrets at the expense of ideas for the bringing about of political informed representative government and social changes desired by the provides no real security for our people.”9 In Associated Press v. United Republic.”14 Justice Potter Stewart felt States, Justice Hugo Black (one of the that the role of the press as a public few literalists to sit on the Supreme forum – while obviously important – was Court)10 wrote that the First Amendment quite banal, given its specific place the “rests on the assumption that the widest Founders carved out in the possible dissemination of information Constitution.15 Stewart wrote that, “the from diverse and antagonistic sources is press is free to do battle against secrecy essential to the welfare of the public, and deception in government,” and that that a free press is a condition of a free extensive press freedoms are necessary society.”11 These statements affirm the to prevent the nation from succumbing first role of the media: to ensure a robust to “despotism.”16 Subsequent justices exchange of ideas among different have been reluctant to endorse these constituents in society. constitutional truths, but the fact stands that the Constitution affords the press The Supreme Court has also an unbelievable amount of power to upheld the role of the press as James Madison envisioned it: “one of the great 12 James Madison, quoted in New York Times v. United States , 403 U.S. 713 (1971) (Black & Douglas, JJ., concurring). 9 Roth v. United States, 354 U.S. 476 13 New York Times v. United States, 403 (1957). U.S. 713 (1971). 10 That is to say, believed that the First 14 New York Times v. United States, 403 Amendment’s statement “shall make no U.S. 713 (1971) (Black & Douglas, JJ., law,” quite literally meant “no law” shall be concurring). made that abridged freedom of speech or 15 Potter Stewart, “Or of the Press,” press. Hastings Law Journal Vol. 25, No. 3 11 Associated Press v. U. S., 326 U.S. 1 (1975): 634. (1945). 16 Ibid., 636.

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29 publish what they wish. As an institution, of the state and major corporate entities, the media is firmly entrenched as a while others, such as Timothy Cook, are cornerstone of American democracy more optimistic about the independent and is readily enabled through the voice of the press. It would be Constitution to carry out its mandate as irresponsible (if not impossible) to the fourth estate. analyse the role of the media in the United States without discussing the While the media is clearly theorists and their views on the role of designated an important role in in the press. domestic politics in the United States, it is not obvious from these examples just In Governing With the News: The how media relates to foreign policy. In News Media as a Political Institution, “Media and the Making of U.S. Foreign journalism professor Timothy Cook Policy,” former chief editor of Problems argues that the news media does not of Communism Paul A. Smith, Jr. sets just have a role in American politics; out two ways in which the media can they have a role in the government influence foreign policy. The first is itself.19 The role of the media is not just indirect; through the process of reporting one in which information is filtered news the media sculpts public opinion. through to the public, though this Since governments generally respond to influence, when exerted on government public opinion to some extent, the media through public opinion, can be has an indirect influence on how the significant. Cook writes that, “political government approaches foreign actors respond to the agenda of the affairs.17 The second is more direct, news,” and that government decisions though less common and more difficult often “anticipate the media’s response;” to quantify. Smith writes that news the news media can influence policy reportage creates the context in which from within the offices of the administration decision-makers think Washington power elite.20 Indeed, in about the United States and its place in 1992 then-President George H.W. Bush the world.18 This framework is a fairly ordered 20000 troops into Somalia, straightforward and appropriate way to moved to action by a story in the New approach the role of the media in foreign York Times.21 The “CNN Effect” policy. While it is a basic (and fairly suggests that the media can bring unobjectionable) framework, whether or international issues to the attention of not the media actually lives up to its role officials through their coverage of as a public forum, or a watchdog, or even meaningfully contributes to the 19 Timothy Cook, Governing With the News: foreign policy process is actually a fairly The News Media as a Political Institution contentious issue. Media theorists such (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, as Noam Chomsky, for example, 1998), 3. suggest that the media is merely a pawn 20 Ibid., 10. 21 Maryann Cusimano Love, “The New 17 Paul A. Smith, Jr., “Media and the Bully Pulpit: Global Media and Foreign Making of U.S. Foreign Policy,” The Policy,” in Media Power, Media Politics, Washington Quarterly, Vol. 7, No. 2 (1984): edited by Mark J. Rozell and Jeremy D. 135. Mayer (Lanham: Rowman and Littlefield 18 Ibid. Publishers, Inc., 2008), 266.

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30 foreign affairs.22 However, the main do depend heavily on official sources question raised by media scholars and protection; after all, the access of regarding the role of the news in the media to a war zone without the filter government is basically, who sets the of government is severely limited. But, agenda? That is to say, on the issues of realistically, the necessary contention the day, is the media wielding power that this taints the media more retroactively, or do they have an active generally, I think is a bit of a stretch. role in crafting policy, if not actually These drawbacks are not a conspiracy setting the agenda for the government? of government to inhibit democracy, but rather structural limitations on the way Critics of the media often suggest the press operates when it comes to that journalists are little more than reporting the news. mouthpieces for the administration, and that even with the appearance of The way that the media independence, journalists rely too influences foreign policy through public heavily on official sources and opinion is a relationship that is more protection in order to be truly easily established than arguing that they independent.23 Noam Chomsky and exert some control over the context in Edward Herman argue in Manufacturing which public officials make decisions. Consent: The Political Economy of the According to The Nation’s Victor Mass Media that the reliance on official Navansky, the media is the “circulation information by journalists blurs the line system of our democracy,” and the between media and the government to means by which Americans “make up the extent that they become “a part of [their] collective mind.”26 It is orthodoxy the elite themselves.”24 The State in scholarship that there is some impact Department and the Pentagon, for by public opinion on foreign policy. example, have public relations organs While at one point public opinion was that provide much needed information to viewed as irrelevant by foreign policy- journalists. Chomsky and Herman allege makers, the second half of the twentieth that because of this dependence the century established public opinion as an media is loath to voice criticism and lose important consideration for government their access to information.25 The result officials.27 Public resistance to the is that the media basically regurgitates Vietnam War not only played a role in the official propaganda, such that they ending the war, but also had a long-term retain access to figures of power. There effect on the use of military force as a is some truth to this, because journalists viable foreign policy option. It was argued in the 1980s by Ronald 22 Ibid., 264. Reagan’s Secretary of Defence Caspar 23 Anthony DiMaggio, When the Media Goes to War: Hegemonic Discourse, Public 26 Victor Navansky, foreword to Journalism Opinion, and the Limits of Dissent (New After September 11, edited by Barbie Zelizer York: Monthly Review Press, 2009), 14. and Stuart Allan (New York: Routledge, 24 Ibid., 16. 2002), xiii. 25 Edward S. Herman and Noam Chomsky, 27 Donald L. Jordan and Benjamin I. Page, Manufacturing Dissent: The Political “Shaping Foreign Policy Options: The Role Economy of the Mass Media (New York: of TV News,” The Journal of Conflict Pantheon Books, 2002), 22. Resolution, Vol. 36, No. 2 (1992): 227.

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Weinberger that imperial adventures the administration is a debate that is by could only be conducted if the President no means conclusive. It is an had the support of the public.28 Called occasionally bare-knuckled argument, the “Vietnam syndrome,” the failed and there are widely divergent imperial adventure in Indochina left a viewpoints that draw on theoretical and hangover in which the successful use of empirical evidence. However, the history military force as a foreign policy tool was of the relationship between the press dependent on the support of the and the government suggests that the American public. In fact, Anthony media does play a role in restraining the DiMaggio concedes that the foreign actions of government and helping craft policy of the Regan administration was the range of legitimate policy options. As likely constrained by public opposition to such, the framework developed above his agendas in South America and provides the most suitable means by during the first Gulf War.29 It goes with which to analyze the relationship saying, though, that public opinion is not between the media and foreign policy in always a deciding factor on foreign the aftermath of 9/11. policy issues. For example, President Bill Clinton’s use of the United States This section of the paper sets out military in Haiti, Bosnia and Kosovo a framework by which we can were decisions made in an absence of understand the role of the media in compelling public support for such foreign policy. The media can fulfil its action.30 However, it can be concluded mandate (as established by the First with reasonable confidence that public Amendment) in two ways: providing a opinion is considered by the powers that marketplace of ideas, and acting as a be. This conclusion, though, is watchdog constraint on the actions of complicated by the question of who government. Through these roles, the exactly influences public opinion? In media can influence foreign policy order for the media to be a player on decisions by swaying public opinion, as foreign policy issues, it must have at well as establishing the contexts in least some impact on the way the public which the government can actually views foreign affairs. make decisions. The media wields power by determining context through The debate over the role of the the marketplace of ideas, which has the media in American society, and the way effect of influencing policy options as in which journalists can actually they are made. However, media also influence the foreign policy decisions of exercises a review power, in which watchdog journalism can check actions 28 John Dumbrell, The Making of U.S. of the government that are already in Foreign Policy (Manchester: Manchester progress. This framework, which draws University Press, 1997), 152. from the work of Timothy Cook, 29 Anthony DiMaggio, When the Media establishes a foundation from which a Goes to War: Hegemonic Discourse, Public more precise understanding of the Opinion, and the Limits of Dissent (New relationship between media and foreign York: Monthly Review Press, 2009), 209. policy can be made. 30 Ole R. Holsti, Public Opinion and It should go without saying that American Foreign Policy (Ann Arbor: The the relationship between the media and University of Michigan Press, 2004), 289.

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32 government on foreign policy decisions ignore the changes in how Americans is not consistent over time. However, consume media. There is no doubt that the purpose of the framework is to this is one of the fundamental questions establish what the role of the media that the upcoming generation must ought to be, in terms of its ideal role in address regarding American politics. society. The reality is that this is not always fulfilled. The standard that media 9/11 and the Unmaking of American scholars and Supreme Court justices Journalism believe the media should live up to is The events of September 11, really quite high. The attacks on the 2001, present a unique challenge to the World Trade Center on September 11, contention that the media acts as a 2001 ushered in an era dominated by a restraint on government power. As the completely new paradigm of towers crumbled in New York City, international relations. As well, it altered Americans rallied around the flag. The the way Americans viewed their nation, media followed suit; expressing a great deeply impacting the national deal of patriotism, and more importantly, consciousness. Furthermore, it is a a great deal of deference to the policies period when the media establishment of the Bush administration.32 This was partially abdicated its mandate in not just a result of the McCarthy-style society. The next section of this paper charges of anti-Americanism tossed will argue that the extent of the around in the aftermath, but also the abdication was not as severe as some result of outright self-censorship on the critics suggest, and that the media part of journalists and editors. Indeed, regained its critical voice relatively the trauma of September 11 even quickly in the wake of severe foreign brought formerly anti-war critics of policy mistakes by the Bush American foreign policy into the administration. neoconservative fold. Journalist Finally, this argument is Christopher Hitchens ended a twenty- intensified because of the revolution in year relationship with The Nation and the medium by which we consume departed messily from the American news. In early 2011, when the Left, citing the underestimation of the threat of Osama Bin Laden in his final democratic consciousness in the Middle 33 East finally boiled over, this was column. In fact, Hitchens had been a arguably facilitated because social vocal critic of the first Gulf War, only media allowed protestors to stay one crossing the floor in the wake of 9/11. step ahead of their authoritarian oppressors.31 With an American election on the horizon, where foreign policy will no doubt be hotly debated, we cannot 32 Victor Navansky, foreword to Journalism After September 11, edited by Barbie Zelizer 31 L. Gordon Crovitz, “Egypt’s Revolution and Stuart Allan (New York: Routledge, by Social Media,” Wall Street Journal, 2002), xv. February 14, 2011. 33 Christopher Hitchens, “Taking Sides,” http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000142405 The Nation, September 26, 2002. 2748703786804576137980252177072.html http://www.thenation.com/article/taking- (accessed March 26, 2011). sides (accessed March 10, 2011).

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The attacks did not just rattle the however, they did not abandon the role American populace, but also as watchdog, calling out the dramatically altered the paradigms in administration on particularly which journalists, editors and publishers contentious issues that arose from worked and lived daily. The media was foreign policy decisions. not insulated from the events of September 11, and this trauma shaped The foreign policy of the Bush the reportage produced in the aftermath. administration is retroactively defined in However, in my view the media gets terms of the wars in Afghanistan and criticised undeservedly for their work in Iraq; however, a reading of George W. the few years following 9/11. The Bush’s press release from September critique basically states that the press 17, 2002, outlines a foreign policy failed to see through the Bush predicated on the spread of freedom, democracy and free enterprise around administration’s errors regarding 35 weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, the globe. However, it also recognized and were unable to have a substantive the ominous threat of terrorism, and debate regarding more aggressive pledged to fight terrorism wherever it foreign policy decisions.34 More may crop up, acknowledging it is the generally, critics suggest that the press role of the United States as the sole remaining superpower to lead the world should have acted as a significant check 36 on the foreign policy of the Bush in this fight. In particular, President administration, instead of following Bush outlined the threat of nuclear along with the rest of the populace. The weapons and stated that his administration would staunchly resist mainstream media accepted the tenets 37 of the Bush Doctrine; journalists were proliferation. In terms of the legacy of writing in the same context as the rest of the Bush Doctrine, it is the call to pre- America, and susceptible to the emptively and “actively fight terror,” paradigm-altering affect of an attack on which foreshadowed the invasion of Iraq national soil. However, the media was and Afghanistan. This was accompanied sharply critical of the Bush by a shift from focussing on state actors administration on certain issues, to non-state actors and rogue states that particularly in the wake of the abuses at presented a unique threat to American Abu Ghraib. The mistake that critics of security, a view that is articulated through the “axis of evil” designation the media in the post-9/11 period make 38 is that the fourth estate does not need to afforded to Iran, Iraq and North Korea. be opposed to all government policies at all times. In the years following the 35 George W. Bush, “Introduction, The attacks of September 11, the American National Security Strategy of the United media partially abdicated its role as States of America,” National Security provider of a marketplace of ideas; Council, September 17, 2002. http://georgewbush- whitehouse.archives.gov/nsc/nss/2002/nssint 34 Robert W. McChesney, “September 11 ro.html (accessed March 26, 2011). and the Structural Limitations of U.S. 36 Ibid. Journalism,” in Journalism After September 37 Ibid. 11, edited by Barbie Zelizer and Stuart Allen 38 Robert S. Litwak, Regime Change: U.S. (New York: Routledge, 2002), 93. Strategy Through the Prism of 9/11

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While George Bush also committed to community, rallying to provide comfort to fighting HIV/AIDS, and ramped up neighbours. Schudson suggests that spending on international development, journalists were aware of criticisms of it is the right to act militarily, unilaterally the administration that they could have and pre-emptively that defines the Bush made, but knew it “would be unseemly” Doctrine in our popular memory. Indeed, in the context of a national tragedy.42 these components of Bush’s foreign However, Schudson argues that while policy are doubtless the most this may be a necessary role for the contentious, and he was heavily media at the time, as “the moment criticised by the media once their critical passed,” the media should have voice returned. resumed its role as a critical observer and source of information for the The framework in which I have public.43 The moment was missed, and rooted this examination suggests that news organizations became the media institutions act as a viable, cheerleaders for war as the aggressive and potent, force in reigning in the rhetoric was amped up by President government, and providing information Bush and his war cabinet.44 to the American population. In the years following 9/11, there was a significant Media scholar Robert breakdown in the way the media played McChesney suggests that not only did this role. Mainstream media institutions the media fail to have a substantive toned down critical reporting and discussion regarding how to prosecute rhetoric, citing the interest of the nation the war, but whether or not the United as more important than partisan States should go to war at all.45 It is this concerns.39 In some ways, this is a dearth of debate that suggests the fulfilment of one aspect of the media’s media failed to fulfil its role in articulating mandate, in that it provided pastoral the diverse views on government policy. guidance for the rest of the nation in the However, the media focused instead on immediate and traumatic aftermath of a few topics of discussion regarding the 9/11.40 Michael Schudson refers to this potential conflict. There was strong as “the prose of solidarity rather than a emphasis in the national news coverage prose of information.”41 It was, generally of the military planning for an attack, speaking, a role that journalists adopted and 75 percent of New York Times as part of the larger American articles regurgitated the official reports that Iraq was developing, or was (Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University capable of developing, weapons of Press, 2007), 2. 39 Victor Navansky, foreword to Journalism After September 11, edited by Barbie Zelizer and Stuart Allan (New York: Routledge, 42 Ibid., 43. 2002), xv. 43 Ibid. 40 Michael Schudson, “What’s Unusual 44 Ibid. About Covering Politics As Usual?” in 45 Robert W. McChesney, “September 11 Journalism After September 11, edited by and the Structural Limitations of U.S. Barbie Zelizer and Stuart Allen (New York: Journalism,” in Journalism After September Routledge, 2002), 41. 11, edited by Barbie Zelizer and Stuart Allen 41 Ibid. (New York: Routledge, 2002), 93.

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35 mass destruction.46 These were views There is little doubt that much of the that were consistent with a significant journalism presented in the major discussion regarding the “procedural” newspapers was, quite simply, terrible, implications of going to war, and not and that there was an unnerving amount directly challenging the right of the of deference to the official government United States to go to war in the first line. place.47 In terms of my framework, this critique argues that the media failed to However, recent scholarship provide a forum where numerous suggests that the American media was viewpoints on the war might be not as reluctant to report objection to espoused, and acted as a megaphone war as critics commonly suggest. for the administration in persuading Political scientists Danny Hayes and Americans to go to war. Matt Guardino argue that media coverage of the Iraq War was not as Since it has been established that “lopsided” as once presumed.50 They the marketplace of ideas is one of the root this thesis in their analysis of news important functions that the media is stories in the 8 months leading up to the supposed to fulfil, obviously to fail to invasion of Iraq – the only systematic have a debate regarding a military study of its kind.51 They suggest that intervention constitutes a dereliction of their analysis shows that anti-war duty. In the years following 9/11, it sentiment was often reported in seems quite clear – and the scholarship American news, although the source of nears unanimity – that the acquiescence the dissent was usually foreign critics or of the media essentially gave the media sources.52 However, a government carte blanche on its foreign commonplace criticism of foreign views policy decisions.48 In a slew of articles, is that they really have no place in New York Times reporter Judith Miller American political discourse, and so this nearly singlehandedly created the can be disregarded as evidence that the weapons of mass destruction hysteria media told both sides of the story. that promoted the invasion of Iraq. Slate Hayes and Guardino anticipate this, and writer Jack Shafer called Miller’s work point out that most of the scholarship “wretched reporting” in an article that that argues this point comes from the dissects some of the claims she made.49 Cold War era when the tense political situation, with its strict ideological demarcations meant that journalists 46 were unlikely to seek out opinions Anthony DiMaggio, When the Media 53 Goes to War: Hegemonic Discourse, Public critical of American foreign policy. Opinion, and the Limits of Dissent (New York: Monthly Review Press, 2009), 245- http://www.slate.com/id/2086110/ (accessed 246. April 3, 2011). 47 Ibid., 235. 50 Danny Hayes and Matt Guardino, “Whose 48 Danny Hayes and Matt Guardino, “Whose Views Made the News? Media Coverage Views Made the News? Media Coverage and the March to War in Iraq,” Political and the March to War in Iraq,” Political Communication, Vol. 27, No. 1 (2010): 61. Communication, Vol. 27, No. 1 (2010): 60. 51 Ibid., 60. 49 Jack Shafer, “The Times Scoop that 52 Ibid., 61. Melted,” Slate, July 25, 2003. 53 Ibid., 63.

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While this does not demonstrate an not front-page news both the American source of dissent, it does Washington Post and the New York suggest an alteration in the generally Times ran articles that questioned accepted view that the mainstream Powell’s evidence.57 Newsweek even media in the United States completely systematically critiqued a number of the abdicated its role as the forum for ideas claims made by the Secretary of State.58 about American politics. The evidence does suggest, though, that the “directional thrust” of coverage While the view that the of the Iraq War was in favour of the marketplace of ideas was severely positions of the Bush administration, a diminished in the post-9/11 period, and result that Hayes and Guardino in the lead-up to the Iraq War, conclude does not live up to the systematic analysis of news coverage “democratic standard” of American demonstrates that there were a number journalism.59 However, the general of dissenting views presented in the conclusion that Hayes and Guardino news. Among other indicators, Hayes reach is that that the media is and Guardino analysed over 6000 representative of a more robust source quotes from over 1400 stories on discourse than much of the critical the Iraq War on ABC, CBS and NBC literature suggests. news.54 This analysis revealed that 29 percent of quotes were opposed to the That does not, however, free the Iraq War, whereas 34 percent were media completely from condemnation supportive of invasion, and 37 percent for an extensive muzzling of viewpoints were neutral with regards to American critical of the Bush administration. In my action.55 Admittedly, the research done view, this is because of the context that by Hayes and Guardino focused on 9/11 created and the simple fact that television news, and not the print media, journalists, editors and news anchors but the analysis of certain media are just people. Critics who suggest that sources gives a snapshot of coverage of reporters were too enthusiastic about the preparations for war. Their research intervention in Iraq and Afghanistan suggests that the discourses developed neglect the fact, that journalists were surrounding the Iraq War were not as not, by virtue of their profession, super- one-sided as it is often presumed by humans able to separate themselves media critics, and that some indicators from the events of 9/11. This is the suggest there was some diverse necessary argument when one engages coverage of the conflict. Newspapers of in a hostile critique of the role of the record followed this trend as well; after Colin Powell’s February 5, 2003 speech 2004. to the United Nations that detailed the http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2 history of Saddam Hussein’s 004/feb/26/now-they-tell-us/ (accessed April belligerence, front-page coverage was 3, 2011). 56 generally favourable. While certainly 57 Ibid. 58 Ibid. 54 Ibid., 72. 59 Danny Hayes and Matt Guardino, “Whose 55 Ibid. Views Made the News? Media Coverage 56 Michael Massing, “Now They Tell Us,” and the March to War in Iraq,” Political The New York Review of Books, January 29, Communication, Vol. 27, No. 1 (2010): 80.

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37 media in the wake of a national tragedy. descriptions of others.61 The New That only an exceptional few, such as Yorker followed on May 10, 2004 with a Chalmers Johnson of The Nation piece by Seymour M. Hersh that managed to find a critical voice attests detailed the abuses committed in the to the difficulty of the mainstream media prison.62 The mainstream press also in fulfilling their constitutional mandate. responded to the allegations; the New But, it is necessary to remember the York Times ran a story on April 29, 2004 context in which all journalists operated: under the headline “G.I.’s Are Accused in the days following the attacks of of Abusing Iraqi Captives.” While it was September 11, President Bush had an not exactly hard-hitting investigative approval rating of around 80 per cent, journalism that acts as a substantial and while it declined over time, he check on the actions of the government, experienced upward spikes at the the story took the important step of invasion of Afghanistan, and again for suggesting that the abuses committed Iraq.60 That the mainstream press was might have been consistent with orders caught up in this fervour does not from military superiors.63 The New York excuse their acquiescence; however, it Times ran another story on May 1, is a point well worth making that the detailing the allegations that the abuse critique of journalists is an easy one to might have been ordered by military make in retrospect. Regardless of the intelligence and was hidden from other unwillingness of the American media to officials.64 While not exactly an participate actively in a substantive American publication, The Economist debate regarding the Bush Doctrine, the even called for Secretary of Defence events in 2004 precipitated a tentative Donald Rumsfeld to resign over the resurgence in the role of the media as a abuses because “responsibility needs to watchdog.

Abu Ghraib Prison in Iraq was primer for the debate that eventually 61 Rebecca Leung, “Abuse of Iraqi POWs by emerged in the United States regarding GIs Probed,” CBS News, April 28, 2004. the use of torture and coercive http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/04/27 interrogation. Essentially, American /60II/main614063.shtml (accessed April 4, military personnel working in the prison 2011). had taken a number of photographs of It is worth noting that the military had prisoners in abusive, humiliating and already launched an internal investigation often sexually compromising situations. into the abuses. The scandal went public on April 28, 62 Seymour M. Hersh, “Torture at Abu 2004 when the CBS program 60 Ghraib,” The New Yorker, May 10, 2004. Minutes II aired the story, which http://www.newyorker.com/archive/2004/05 released some of the photographs, and /10/040510fa_fact (accessed March 29, 2011). 63 James Risen, “G.I.’s Are Accused of Abusing Iraqi Captives,” New York Times, 60 BBC News, “Bush Approval Rating April 29, 2004, A15. Tracker,” BBC News, 64 Philip Shenon, “Officer Suggests Iraqi Jail http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/6038436.stm Abuse Was Encouraged,” New York Times, (accessed March 27, 2011). May 1, 2004, N1, N14.

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38 be taken…at the highest level.”65 It was the War in Iraq.68 However, the hard a disclosure that set a precedent for news pages of the mainstream media future scandals, such as domestic were unwilling to dub the actions at Abu wiretapping, that the media would come Ghraib “torture,” instead using the less out against strongly.66 The Abu Ghraib loaded term “abuse.”69 In contrast, scandal in May 2004 marks the return of though, the editorial pages of the the watchdog media, though it did not Washington Post and the New York yet wield its powers to their full extent. Times raised the spectre of torture, which suggests that there was a At the time that the Abu Ghraib growing consciousness among reporters story was revealed, public opinion of the that significant questions needed to be war had slipped after weeks of higher- raised about the policies of the Bush than-normal bloodshed. Just a month administration regarding torture.70 While earlier on March 31, 2004 four American the reluctance of the mainstream press defence contractors were executed and to take a firm stance on the issue of their corpses mutilated by an enraged torture is a target for criticism, it can be mob in Fallujah, Iraq. The New York concluded that the watchdog role of the Times described the event in lurid detail, media was re-established at this point.71 and noted it was “reminiscent of the scene from Somalia in 1993, when a After these first baby steps, mob dragged the body of an American CNN’s Christiane Amanpour remarked soldier through the streets of that by 2005 reporters had “got their Mogadishu.”67 That event had marked a spine back.”72 In part, this is no doubt turning point in public support for the due to the slumping public support for Somali intervention, which eventually lead to the withdrawal of U.S. forces. 68 W. Lance Bennett et al., When the Press The incident in Fallujah contributed to Fails: Political Power and the News Media the decline in American support for the from Iraq to Katrina (Chicago: The Iraq War, and the publication of the Abu University of Chicago Press, 2007), 78-79. Ghraib photos in that context resulted in 69 Doris Graber and Dennis Holyk, “What a steep drop in public enthusiasm for Explains Torture Coverage During Wartime?: A Search For Realistic Answers,” (paper presented at the 2007 Annual 65 The Economist, “Resign Rumsfeld,” The Meeting of the American Political Science Economist, May 6, 2004. Association, August 30-September 2, 2007). http://www.economist.com/node/2647493 70 W. Lance Bennett et al., When the Press (accessed March 29, 2011). Fails: Political Power and the News Media 66 Paul L. Moorcraft and Philip M. Taylor, from Iraq to Katrina (Chicago: The Shooting the Messenger: The Political University of Chicago Press, 2007), 88. Impact of War Reporting (Washington: 71 A significant amount of space in When the Potomac Books, Inc., 2008), 199. Press Fails is devoted to criticism of the 67 Jeffrey Gettleman, “Enraged Mob in hesitancy of the media to call the events at Falluja Kills 4 American Contractors,” New Abu Ghraib torture. York Times, March 31, 2004. 72 Paul L. Moorcraft and Philip M. Taylor, http://www.nytimes.com/2004/03/31/interna Shooting the Messenger: The Political tional/worldspecial/31CND-IRAQ.html Impact of War Reporting (Washington: (accessed April 3, 2011). Potomac Books, Inc., 2008), 199.

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39 the war; majority public opinion opposed foreign policy blunders.75 The the war in 2004, an opinion that Washington Post also did some soul emerged three years before searching; staff writer Howard Kurtz newspapers of record officially wrote on August 12, 2004 that the Post advocated for withdrawal from Iraq.73 should have done a better job of Anthony DiMaggio contends that the publishing critical news stories on the media responded to public opinion when front page, instead of burying them in they spoke out against the Iraq War, the back pages of the paper.76 and not the other way around. However, Simultaneously, a number of books this neglects the fact that before late were published that were critical of Bush 2004, the media had been reporting administration war policies.77 Anthony events that stimulated a decrease in DiMaggio explains that in 2005 public support for the war. In reference newspapers of record demonstrated a to the executions at Fallujah, the media spike in the critical coverage of the Iraq does not necessarily need to offer a War, evidenced by a surge in criticism of Bush administration foreign discussions on withdrawal.78 By 2005, policy in order for the public to respond the tide was turning, and the media was negatively to the images printed. An not only expanding its coverage of the editorially “unbiased” news story might marketplace of ideas, but the watchdog still act as a check on government if it role of government began to return in a leads to a decline in public support for a robust form. specific foreign policy issue. However, even while newspapers might not have After the incidents at Abu Ghraib, taken a distinct editorial stance on the the mainstream media broke two stories war, a number of individual reporters that constituted significant acts of were defecting to the anti-war camp, watchdog journalism. Shortly after the and certain papers were reflecting attacks of September 11 President Bush critically upon their coverage.74 authorized the National Security Agency

Former foreign policy hawk and 75 Paul L. Moorcraft and Philip M. Taylor, Newsweek columnist Fareed Zakaria Shooting the Messenger: The Political recanted his position on the Iraq War, Impact of War Reporting (Washington: essentially blaming the “combination of Potomac Books, Inc., 2008), 198. arrogance and incompetence” on the 76 Howard Kurtz, “The Post on WMDs: An part of the Bush administration for Inside Story,” Washington Post, August 12, 2004. http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp- 73 Anthony DiMaggio, When the Media dyn/A58127-2004Aug11?language=printer Goes to War: Hegemonic Discourse, Public (accessed April 3, 2011). Opinion, and the Limits of Dissent (New 77 Paul L. Moorcraft and Philip M. Taylor, York: Monthly Review Press, 2009), 252. Shooting the Messenger: The Political 74 On point of fact, it is rather odd that Impact of War Reporting (Washington: critics suggest that an editorially neutral Potomac Books, Inc., 2008), 198. stance on the Iraq War constitutes a 78 Anthony DiMaggio, When the Media dereliction of duty. I suspect given a Goes to War: Hegemonic Discourse, Public different set of circumstances, the very same Opinion, and the Limits of Dissent (New people might cry foul about a biased media. York: Monthly Review Press, 2009), 252.

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40 to operate wiretaps and conduct citizens must be wary of the surveillance without the warrants contemporary use of surveillance by the normally required in instances of N.S.A. such that abuses of power do not domestic spying. While this is not occur again. The story, while far from technically a foreign policy issue, it was editorializing, clearly disclosed a reaction to 9/11, and as a component information that the Bush administration of the War on Terror it comprises a did not want made public; this is the domestic wing of a larger foreign policy essence of watchdog journalism. The objective and doctrine. As an example next day, Congress declined to renew of watchdog journalism in the post-9/11 provisions of the Patriot Act, with some period, it simply cannot be ignored. (such as Senator Charles Schumer) Information about the illegal surveillance declaring they supported the filibuster was leaked to the New York Times and after the revelations in the New York they broke the story on December 15, Times article changed their views on the 2005, despite requests from the Bush legislation.82 Other members of the administration that it be kept under Senate called for investigation into the wraps.79 It is particularly important that allegations raised by the Times; this is a the New York Times broke the story the contemporary example of the media day before Congress was to vote on the stepping in and playing a significant role reauthorization of the Patriot Act; the in checking the government’s use of disclosure could have been a tactical power. one to influence the voting of Congress.80 The story features a brief Following the revelations at Abu history of domestic surveillance, with the Ghraib, the allegations and discussion authors noting that “widespread abuses” of officially sanctioned torture became a in the Civil Rights era lead to the subject of intense interest in the media. adoption of the “Foreign Intelligence For many of the news outlets that Surveillance Act, which imposed strict published the Abu Ghraib photos, they limits on intelligence gathering on justified doing so on the grounds that it American soil.”81 The insinuation is that would act as a check on a particularly gruesome foreign policy decision.83 Abu

79 James Risen and Eric Litchblau, “Bush s/16program.html?pagewanted=print Lets U.S. Spy on Callers Without Courts,” (accessed April 3, 2011). New York Times, December 15, 2005. 82 Sheryl Gay Stolberg and Eric Lichtblau, http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/16/politic “Senators Thwart Bush Bid to Renew Law s/16program.html?pagewanted=print on Terrorism,” New York Times, December (accessed April 3, 2011). 17, 2005. 80 W. Lance Bennett et al., When the Press http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/17/politic Fails: Political Power and the News Media s/17patriot.html?scp=7&sq=Bush%20Lets% from Iraq to Katrina (Chicago: The 20U.S.%20Spy%20on%20Callers%20Witho University of Chicago Press, 2007), 66. ut%20Courts%20&st=cse (accessed April 3, 81 James Risen and Eric Litchblau, “Bush 2011). Lets U.S. Spy on Callers Without Courts,” 83 Matt Carlson, “Media Criticism as a New York Times, December 15, 2005. Competitive Discourse: Defining Reportage http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/16/politic of the Abu Ghraib Scandal,” Journal of

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Ghraib was arguably the first step in the in which Rumsfeld explicitly endorsed debate over torture in America, and it the use of torture techniques.87 This quickly expanded into a larger editorializing demonstrates an instance discussion over the use of torture by when the media clashed directly with a American intelligence forces. In government official, exposing the official response to the Bush administration line as fraudulent, given the weight of claim that the abuses at Abu Ghraib the evidence. This is the essence of were merely isolated incidents, Mark watchdog journalism, when the media is Danner, writing for the New York unwilling to allow the president, or any Review of Books established significant administration officials to dominate the connections between higher-level debate on a specific policy issue. military authorities, and the abuses perpetrated at the prison.84 Indeed, he Today, these issues are still up traced the sanction for these sorts of for debate, and are the focus of plenty of abuses back to President Bush’s denial news stories and editorializing. The of Geneva Convention protections to focus has perhaps shifted from Abu Taliban and al-Qaeda fighters on Ghraib to Guantanamo Bay, but the February 7, 2002.85 When the awareness of torture and coercive Washington Post published an editorial interrogative techniques still feature entitled “Torture Policy,” they accused prominently in debates. In fact, in an the administration of “shamefully” effort to settle the debate over whether scapegoating the military personnel or not “waterboarding” constitutes working at Abu Ghraib, and accused torture, Vanity Fair columnist Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld Christopher Hitchens voluntarily and military officers operating in the Iraq underwent the procedure in 2008, theatre of approving such techniques.86 concluding that “if waterboarding does not constitute torture, then there is no Rumsfeld shot back, expressing 88 “dismay” that the Washington Post such thing as torture.” On the subject editorial could accuse the administration of domestic civil liberties, the Patriot Act of complicity with torture. The editors was recently up for renewal in responded by laying out two instances Congress, accompanied by a vigorous debate in the media: writing for the National Review, Nathan A. Sales called Communication Inquiry Vol. 33 (2009): it a “critical weapon in our struggle 265. 84 Mark Danner, “Abu Ghraib: The Hidden Story,” The New York Review of Books, October 7, 2004. 87 The Washington Post, “Torture Policy http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2 (cont’d),” Washington Post, June 21, 2004. 004/oct/07/abu-ghraib-the-hidden- http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp- story/?page=4 (accessed April 3, 2011). dyn/articles/A56753-2004Jun20.html 85 Ibid. (accessed April 3, 2011). 86 The Washington Post, “Torture Policy,” 88 Christopher Hitchens, “Believe Me, It’s Washington Post, June 16, 2004. Torture,” Vanity Fair, August 2008. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp- http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/features/ dyn/articles/A56753-2004Jun20.html 2008/08/hitchens200808 (accessed April 3, (accessed April 3, 2011). 2011).

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42 against al-Qaeda.”89 In contrast, Radley possibility that the democratization of Balko at Reason magazine accused the news will act as a sort of safeguard Republican Party of simply utilizing the against a complete consensus forming Constitution as a political prop, ignoring again, as did with the mainstream news it when it suits them politically.90 But the organizations following 9/11. The general trend is that in 2011 the media evolution of new media is the final has regained much of its critical voice, question that must be considered in this especially on foreign policy issues. The paper. Keeping in mind the struggles of debates over President Obama’s the media in post-9/11 America, and stances on Egypt, Libya and Bahrain with the ongoing financial problems demonstrate a media that is actively facing newspapers of record, the engaged with foreign policy decisions. changes to the online media system are Whether or not journalists are sculpting important for the future of journalism. the actions of the administration or The reconciliation of new technology shifting public opinion is perhaps a with the vaunted role of the media is a question for historians, but the important task that is integral to the preservation feature is that the debate is occurring. of American democracy. The question remains, then, will The Future of the News Media in the the fourth estate continue to fulfil its United States mandate as a critical check on the actions of government? The reasons for One of the striking features of this the suspension of critical journalism in investigation into American foreign the post-9/11 period are inadequately policy and its relationship to the media is researched. However, it seems that much of the criticism of the media in convincing, in the dearth of other the post-9/11 era is directed at the research, that journalists were swept up mainstream media. Writing in the New in the nationalistic fervour that gripped York Review of Books Michael Massing the United States following the attacks singles out the Washington Post, the of September 11. But, the media has New York Times and the Los Angeles undergone a significant transformation Times for their complacent acceptance in the time since then. The proliferation of official government positions and of web-based content has increased unwillingness to place critical news stories and commentary in prominent dramatically, for example, and the 91 revolution in social media is a fairly spots in the paper. Walter Pincus, a recent phenomenon. There is the staff writer with the Washington Post says that, “the front pages [of these

papers] are very important in shaping 89 Nathan A. Sales, “Who’s Afraid of the what other people think.”92 For the Patriot Act?” National Review, February 15, 2011. http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/2595 91 Michael Massing, “Now They Tell Us,” 95/who-s-afraid-patriot-act-nathan-sales The New York Review of Books, January 29, (accessed April 3, 2011). 2004. 90 Radley Balko, “About That Constitution,” http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2 Reason, February 17, 2011. 004/feb/26/now-they-tell-us/ (accessed April http://reason.com/blog/2011/02/17/about- 3, 2011). that-constitution (accessed April 3, 2011). 92 Ibid.

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43 average reader, what is printed in the bankrupt. The downside of the pages of the major American democratization of journalism and the newspapers or broadcast on the democratization of ideas is that at some evening news likely constitutes the point they become too diluted, and majority of news that they receive. In those writing them lose their authority. many ways, with the evolution of the media today the passive consumption of Recently, Jacob Sullum news is going to become problematic. A considered the question in Reason massive variety of news coverage of magazine of whether or not Wikileaks American foreign policy can be found founder Julian Assange ought to be with only a few keystrokes on the considered a journalist. Sullum points Internet, and it need be only a few out that the very debate threatens First degrees out of the mainstream. The Amendment protections – “This freedom conservative National Review, for [of the press] does not amount to much example, has been featuring a robust if the government can deny it to debate on the intervention in Libya from someone by questioning his journalistic a variety of right-wing perspectives. On credentials,” and suggested that with the the other hand, The Nation is offering a proliferation of new technology, the perspective on American foreign policy constitutional protections afforded to the press will be extended to amateur from an ideological standpoint that is 93 decidedly left-of-centre. The active journalists. Of course, this assumes consumer of news has a wide variety of that important journalistic institutions resources that are quite literally at their continue to decline, or that readership is lost to the larger, grassroots journalism fingertips, which ought to encourage 94 vibrant engagement with the democratic of the Internet. But it is an important system. question – are bloggers, online commentators and self-appointed There is a greater variety of pundits journalists who deserve First information available to the average Amendment protection? The Press citizen today than at any time in history. Clause of the First Amendment arguably The number of different viewpoints and refers only to the institutionalized press, interpretations that are offered on the and not your average citizen with a Internet have the potential to catalyze a computer, for whom the “freedom of revolution in the way that we engage speech” must suffice.95 If the shift with the democratic process. However, it should not be assumed that the expansion in available news will lead to 93 Jacob Sullum, “Is Julian Assange a a corresponding increase in Journalist?” Reason, April 2011. consumption. Furthermore, it does not http://reason.com/archives/2011/03/15/is- necessarily mean that the media will be julian-assange-a-journalist (accessed April a more effective check on government 3, 2011). than it is in its current form. In fact, 94 This is becoming unbelievably important although I would like to be able to with the proliferation of cell phone cameras, conclude that the proliferation of especially when used to record the actions of viewpoints will result in a robust fourth police. estate, it seems unlikely that it will fill the 95 Scott Gant, We Are All Journalists Now: vacancies left as newspapers go The Transformation of the Press and

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44 towards democratized citizen journalism that it takes a reputable news institution continues, it is essential that these to deliver reputable news because of the writers claim their First Amendment trust that has been established with rights; regardless of the medium through readers.98 I believe that O’Rourke has a which it is transmitted, the press must point. While we can increase the retain its rights. Even if the entire marketplace of ideas through the American population was a vociferous Internet, there is little way to tell if the consumer of news, and read many ideas presented are worth very much. blogs daily, democratized journalism Furthermore, if it takes some serious lacks the teeth to be an effective searching to find worthwhile ideas on watchdog. At this point it seems the Internet, it seems unlikely that a ludicrous to think that bloggers might be relatively passive electorate is going to afforded the same protections as a New bother to track down this information. It York Times columnist; no blogger could is significantly easier to pick up the New seriously expect to be granted York Times with the assumption you are government press credentials, for about to read “all the news that’s fit to example. However, if the evolution print.” towards online, amateur reportage is inexorable, this is the direction that the The future of American law must go in order to preserve the journalism, then, is at something of a fourth estate.96 confusing crossroads, both in terms of its survival, and its potential for Even assuming that the average sustaining itself as a check on the power writer might get these protections, this of the government. The solutions to this still leaves a problem of authority. crisis are not readily apparent at this Whether or not Internet writers can act juncture, but it seems likely that – as as an effective check on government, in optimistic as I want to be – the the same way that a paper of record democratized journalism of the Internet can, is an open question. Certainly, in just cannot live up to the standard of terms of resources, journalistic journalistic institutions. It seems unlikely institutions can put more energy into that the next major release of a leaked investigative stories, and can afford to government document, for example, will send reporters abroad to warzones; happen through a blog or a Facebook things that the average citizen does not post, and not the New York Times or have the resources to do. Journalist P.J. another paper of record. For the time O’Rourke says that blogging is being, it will take the institutions of “undigested thinking,” and the products journalism to hold the government of the blogosphere do not inspire trust accountable. Since the ability of Internet from the reader.97 O’Rourke believes journalists to actually fulfil the roles intended for the media by the Founders Reshaping of the Law in the Internet Age is patently unclear, it is in the institutions (New York: Free Press, 2007), 52. and icons of journalism that energy 96 Ibid., 103. ought to be invested. Historically, these 97 P.J. O’Rourke, interview with Luke Allnutt, July 26, 2010. _Much_Worth/2107985.html (accessed http://www.rferl.org/content/PJ_ORourke_V April 3, 2011). 98 ery_Little_That_Gets_Blogged_Is_Of_Very Ibid.

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45 are the most likely to check government morphed into the discussion regarding power. There is no compelling reason to torture, a debate that is ongoing today. suspect this might change, or that The New York Times also reprised its writers in another medium might be an role as a major check on government, adequate replacement. breaking the story of illegal domestic surveillance in 2005. This altered the Conclusion course of the debate regarding The framework that I used for this massively expanded security and surveillance powers that had been paper suggests that the media can influence American foreign policy granted immediately following 9/11. The impact that the New York Times had as through establishing the context in which policy is crafted, and by a watchdog on government power cannot be ignored. influencing public opinion. This is done by two theoretical roles: the marketplace Through these examples, I have of ideas, and the watchdog check on made the argument that the media government action. In the aftermath of acted more responsibly than many the attacks of September 11, 2001, it is critics would suggest. Indeed, I also argued by media critics that major press make the point that the news need not institutions abdicated these roles, giving be biased or subjective in order to exert the Bush administration significant influence over the political system. On leeway on his foreign policy decisions. the coverage of the execution of Indeed, the major newspapers of record American contractors in Fallujah, it is did not sustain a significant debate not necessary for the media to deliver regarding the general philosophy of the commentary; the video and photo Bush Doctrine – there was, for example, coverage speaks for itself. In many little opposition to the philosophical respects, the photos at Abu Ghraib are belief that the United States could similar. Atrocity is atrocity, and reporters intervene militarily in Afghanistan or do not need to hammer out the specifics Iraq. Instead, the media occupied itself of the Geneva Conventions in order for with discussions of the preparations for this point to be made. But, that does not war. However, the recent research by mean that the debate should not be had. Danny Hayes and Matt Guardino There is no doubt that the press as an suggests that critics have exaggerated institution, and journalists as individuals the lopsidedness of coverage, and that could have acted more responsibly in there are indications that the media the post-9/11 era. It is also the hope that sustained the marketplace of ideas, in future crises the role of the fourth even though it could have been more estate will not be abdicated. On this robust. In particular, it seems that this subject, I think, the jury is still out, it might be the case because journalists cannot be conclusively said whether or were not isolated from the attacks of not the last ten years have set a 9/11, and were impacted along with the precedent for reporting standards. rest of American society. Furthermore, However, given the vibrant debate that in 2004 and 2005, there was the has existed during the Obama tentative resurgence in the watchdog administration, it is entirely likely that element of the press, particularly in the this might be sustained into the future. wake of the Abu Ghraib scandal. This

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Finally, it is absolutely worth foreign policy decisions. However, in noting that critics of the post-9/11 media reporting on the wars in Afghanistan and reportage have their sights squarely on Iraq, and disclosing information about newspapers of record: the New York nefarious acts that the government was Times, Washington Post, Wall Street involved in, the media helped turn the Journal, et al. A few degrees off the tide of public opinion. As an institution, mainstream, and the discourses that the media engaged the Bush emerge change quite dramatically. It is, administration directly, such as through therefore, not just the media that must the editorializing of the Washington Post enter the democratic arena with its editors, who sparred with Donald mandate in mind, but Americans must Rumsfeld on the issue of torture. As also be more than passive consumers of news shifts more to the Internet, this news. The role of the media in society, opens up another dimension for then, is something of a two-way street, considering the role for the media in since consumers need to engage their society. Personally, I am not optimistic news, and the media must make an about this evolution, as the nature of effort to report as robustly as possible. journalism acting as a check on Only through this dynamic can the government demands an authoritative media live up to the standards set for it institution. However, this is speculation, as an important democratic institution. and only the future will show what the new medium of journalism has to offer The impact that the media has the American public. Until then, the had on American foreign policy in the consumption of news by the public must opening decade of the twenty-first be voracious, and the work of journalists century has been significant. It was extensive. The historical record influential in the post-9/11 period by demonstrates that the media has virtue of abdicating its role; by not significant clout when the power is thoroughly criticising the Bush wielded. In order to preserve American administration’s foreign policy news democracy for the future, this role must institutions contributed to the aggressive not be abdicated.

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Danner, Mark. “Abu Ghraib: The Hidden Story.” The New York Review of Books, October 7, 2004. http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2004/oct/07/abu- ghraib-the-hidden-story/?page=4. Accessed April 3, 2011.

Kurtz, Howard. “The Post on WMDs: An Inside Story.” Washington Post, August 12, 2004. http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A58127- 2004Aug11?language=printer. Accessed April 3, 2011.

Hersh, Seymour M. “Torture at Abu Ghraib.” The New Yorker, May 10, 2004. http://www.newyorker.com/archive/2004/05/10/040510fa_fact. Accessed March 29, 2011.

Hitchens, Christopher. “Believe Me, It’s Torture.” Vanity Fair, August 2008. http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/features/2008/08/hitchens200808. Accessed April 3, 2011.

Hitchens, Christopher. “Taking Sides.” The Nation, September 26, 2002. http://www.thenation.com/article/taking-sides. Accessed March 10, 2011.

Leung, Rebecca. “Abuse of Iraqi POWs by GIs Probed.” CBS News, April 28, 2004. http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/04/27/60II/main614063.shtml. Accessed April 4, 2011.

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Massing, Michael. “Now They Tell Us.” The New York Review of Books, January 29, 2004. http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2004/feb/26/now-they-tell-us/. Accessed April 3, 2011.

Risen, James. “G.I.’s Are Accused of Abusing Iraqi Captives.” New York Times, April 29, 2004.

Risen James and Eric Litchblau. “Bush Lets U.S. Spy on Callers Without Courts.” New York Times, December 15, 2005. http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/16/politics/16program.html?pagewanted=print/. Accessed April 3, 2011.

Sales, Nathan A. “Who’s Afraid of the Patriot Act?” National Review, February 15, 2011. http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/259595/who-s-afraid-patriot-act-nathan- sales. Accessed April 3, 2011. Shafer, Jack. “The Times Scoop that Melted.” Slate, July 25, 2003. http://www.slate.com/id/2086110/. Accessed April 3, 2011.

Shenon, Philip. “Officer Suggests Iraqi Jail Abuse Was Encouraged.” New York Times, May 1, 2004.

Stolberg, Sheryl Gay and Eric Lichtblau. “Senators Thwart Bush Bid to Renew Law on Terrorism.” New York Times, December 17, 2005. http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/17/politics/17patriot.html?scp=7&sq=Bush%20L ets%20U.S.%20Spy%20on%20Callers%20Without%20Courts%20&st=cse. Accessed April 3, 2011.

Sullum, Jacob. “Is Julian Assange a Journalist?” Reason Magazine, April 2011. http://reason.com/archives/2011/03/15/is-julian-assange-a-journalist. Accessed April 3, 2011. The Economist. “Resign Rumsfeld.” The Economist, May 6, 2004. http://www.economist.com/node/2647493. Accessed March 29, 2011.

The Washington Post. “Torture Policy.” Washington Post, June 16, 2004. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A56753-2004Jun20.html. Accessed April 3, 2011.

The Washington Post. “Torture Policy (cont’d).” Washington Post, June 21, 2004. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A56753-2004Jun20.html. Accessed April 3, 2011.

Thompson, Hunter S. “He Was a Crook.” Rolling Stone, June 16, 1994. http://www.theatlantic.com/past/docs/unbound/graffiti/crook.htm. Accessed February 23, 2011.

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Policy Documents: Bush, George W. “Introduction, The National Security Strategy of the United States of America.” National Security Council, September 17, 2002. http://georgewbush- whitehouse.archives.gov/nsc/nss/2002/nssintro.html. Accessed March 26, 2011.

Supreme Court Cases Associated Press v. U. S., 326 U.S. 1 (1945).

James Madison, quoted in New York Times v. United States , 403 U.S. 713 (1971) (Black & Douglas, JJ., concurring).

New York Times v. United States, 403 U.S. 713 (1971).

New York Times v. United States, 403 U.S. 713 (1971) (Black & Douglas, JJ., concurring).

Roth v. United States, 354 U.S. 476 (1957).

Articles: Carlson, Matt. “Media Criticism as a Competitive Discourse: Defining Reportage of the Abu Ghraib Scandal.” Journal of Communication Inquiry Vol. 33 (2009): 258-277. Hayes, Danny and Matt Guardino. “Whose Views Made the News? Media Coverage and the March to War in Iraq.” Political Communication, Vol. 27, No. 1 (2010): 59-87. Jordan Donald L. and Benjamin I. Page. “Shaping Foreign Policy Options: The Role of TV News.” The Journal of Conflict Resolution, Vol. 36, No. 2 (1992): 227-241. Smith, Jr., Paul A. “Media and the Making of U.S. Foreign Policy.” The Washington Quarterly, Vol. 7, No. 2 (1984): 135-141. Stewart, Potter. “Or of the Press.” Hastings Law Journal Vol. 25, No. 3 (1975): 631-637.

Books: Bennett, W. Lance, Regina G. Lawrence and Steven Livingston. When the Press Fails: Political Power and the News Media from Iraq to Katrina. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 2007. Cook, Timothy. Editor of Freeing the Presses: The First Amendment in Action. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 2005.

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Cook, Timothy. Governing With the News: The News Media as a Political Institution (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1998. DiMaggio, Anthony. When the Media Goes to War: Hegemonic Discourse, Public Opinion, and the Limits of Dissent. New York: Monthly Review Press, 2009. Dumbrell, John. The Making of U.S. Foreign Policy. Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1997. Gant, Scott. We Are All Journalists Now: The Transformation of the Press and Reshaping of the Law in the Internet Age. New York: Free Press, 2007. Gettleman, Jeffrey. “Enraged Mob in Falluja Kills 4 American Contractors.” New York Times, March 31, 2004. http://www.nytimes.com/2004/03/31/international/worldspecial/31CND- IRAQ.html. Accessed April 3, 2011. Herman, Edward S. and Noam Chomsky. Manufacturing Dissent: The Political Economy of the Mass Media. New York: Pantheon Books, 2002. Holsti, Ole R. Public Opinion and American Foreign Policy. Ann Arbor: The University of Michigan Press, 2004. Litwak, Robert S. Regime Change: U.S. Strategy Through the Prism of 9/11. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2007. Love, Maryann Cusimano.“The New Bully Pulpit: Global Media and Foreign Policy.” In Media Power, Media Politics, edited by Mark J. Rozell and Jeremy D. Mayer. Lanham: Rowman and Littlefield Publishers, Inc., 2008. McChesney, Robert W. “September 11 and the Structural Limitations of U.S. Journalism.” In Journalism After September 11, edited by Barbie Zelizer and Stuart Allen. New York: Routledge, 2002. McChesney, Robert W. and John Nichols. The Death and Life of American Journalism: The Media Revolution That Will Begin the World Again. Philadelphia: Nation Books, 2010. Moorcraft, Paul L. and Philip M. Taylor. Shooting the Messenger: The Political Impact of War Reporting. Washington: Potomac Books, Inc., 2008. Navansky, Victor. Foreword to Journalism After September 11, edited by Barbie Zelizer and Stuart Allan. New York: Routledge, 2002. Schudson, Michael. “What’s Unusual About Covering Politics As Usual?” In Journalism After September 11, edited by Barbie Zelizer and Stuart Allen. New York: Routledge, 2002.

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Confrence Papers: Graber, Doris and Dennis Holyk. “What Explains Torture Coverage During Wartime?: A Search For Realistic Answers.” Paper presented at the 2007 Annual Meeting of the American Political Science Association, August 30-September 2, 2007.

Film Gibney, Alex. Gonzo: The Life and Work of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson. Directed by Alex Gibney, Produced by Alex Gibney, 2008.

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