How big media hid as Bush invaded

That the media hid from their duty as "Fourth Estate" regarding Bush's wars is a continuing subject for Greg Mitchell, editor of Editor & Publisher Magazine.

Today he writes about Bush's press conference five years ago (3/6/03) which was a few days before he invaded Iraq. In an essay entitled 5 years Ago: That Fateful Press Conference, Mr. Mitchell lists "questions we wish they'd asked."

Here's his observation about the tone and behavior of that conference: "Bush smiled and made his usual quips, and many of the reporters played the game and did not press him hard. This was how these press gatherings had gone throughout the run-up to war. But this meeting was heavily scripted with Bush looking at a slip of paper and calling on reporters in a pre-arranged order. No one challenged him on this."

He lists 11 "questions we wish they'd asked," questions that if asked and pursued on editorial pages would have throttled this arrogant president and turned him back, in my opinion.

Anyone interested how the media failed to expose Bush's war lies should read Mr. Mitchell's new book "So Wrong for So Long: How The Press, the Pundits -- and the President -- Failed on Iraq," available at Amazon.com and BarnesandNoble.com.

Bill Moyers said the book is a "razor-sharp critique of how the media and the government connived in one of the great blunders of American foreign policy. Every aspiring journalist, every veteran, every pundit — and every citizen who cares about the difference between illusion and reality, propaganda and the truth, and looks to the press to help keep them separate — should read this book. Twice."