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As we noted earlier, NBC has made an editorial decision to begin describing the ongoing violence in Iraq as a “civil war.” NBC’s cable channel, MSNBC, has been discussing the change all day but it’s hardly the first time the situation has been described as such. I’ll leave the debate over semantics to other forums. But this turn of phrase is already being touted as a turning point. It’s kind of hard not to wonder who will be the first to call this a “Cronkite Moment.”

That would be tempting, considering all the hot and heavy debate over use of the term “civil war.” Just one problem – this war has already seen its “Cronkite Moment.” In fact, it’s seen a few of them. Remember when Congressman John Murtha first called for the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq? A Cronkite Moment. When ABC anchor Bob Woodruff and cameraman Doug Vogt were severely injured in an attack? A Cronkite Moment. When conservative icon William F. Buckley pronounced Iraq a failure? You guessed it, a Cronkite Moment.

Of course, Walter Cronkite himself has provided that moment by repeatedly voicing his view that the U.S. should get out of Iraq. We’ve written about what it takes to have a true Cronkite Moment and discussed whether it was as momentous as we’ve come to believe. One thing we can say with certainty is that even if a true Cronkite moment is no longer possible, the phrase has taken on a life of its own.

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There have been three significant developments this week having to do with the media and the Iraq war: Doug Vogt and Bob Woodruff's injuries, a second tape from Jill Carroll's captors featuring the kidnapped journalist, and Christiane Amanpour's comments on Larry King. I'm going to assume you know about the first two. As for the third, Amanpour said "[t]he war in Iraq has basically turned out to be a disaster" and called Iraq a "black hole." That prompted Fishbowl DC's Garrett Graff to repeat his claim that "[t]his week is looking more and more like a 'Cronkite moment.'"



A Cronkite moment is, according to one definition, "when a mainstream media or political figure raises questions about a war or a policy that may produce a dramatic shift in public opinion." It's worth pausing for a moment to ask whether such a moment is even possible. Alessandra Stanley doesn't think so. She argues that "[n]obody in this era of what Ted Koppel, the former 'Nightline' host, describes dismissively as 'boutique journalism' has the kind of mass audience and unconditional trust Walter Cronkite held when he shook the nation by declaring the Vietnam War unwinnable." In December, Editor & Publisher editor Greg Mitchell questioned here on Public Eye whether the notion of a Cronkite moment was overblown from its inception.



People have identified other Iraq Cronkite moments in the past – John Murtha's recent comments concerning withdrawing troops spring to mind. Graff argues that this might be the real thing, however – "The [moment] where, despite all the big and little moments and grand statements like the 'Plan for Victory' and tomorrow night's State of the Union address, the American people lost hope in the war. This serious attack on Woodruff's and Vogt's convoy is similar to one that happens hundreds of times a week in Iraq, but it rarely makes the wall-to-wall coverage that yesterday's attack garnered--and it will likely change how every American news organization covers the war."

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