Couric Critiques Iraq War Run-Up Coverage

CBS News Anchor Calls White House Press Corps Performance "Embarrassing"

(CBS)  In a new book, former White House press secretary Scott McClellan charges that the White House press corps was too easy on the Bush administration in the run-up to the Iraq War. McClellan served as press secretary for nearly three years before leaving in 2006 and was a longtime aide to President Bush stretching back to their days in Texas.

The three network anchors were asked about those claims on CBS News' Early Show Wednesday morning, while promoting a special on cancer to air in September.

"I think it's a very legitimate allegation," said CBS News' Katie Couric. "I think it's one of the most embarrassing chapters in American journalism.

"And I think there was a sense of pressure from corporations who own where we work and from the government itself to really squash any kind of dissent or any kind of questioning of it," Couric added. "I think it was extremely subtle but very, very effective."

ABC News' Charles Gibson disagreed with Couric.

"I think that the media did a pretty good job of focusing and asking the questions," he said. "We were not given access to get into the country … to go along with the inspectors. But the questions were asked.

"It was just a drum beat from the government, and I think it's convenient now to blame the media, but I don't," he added.

NBC News' Brian Williams said it was the mood of the country after 9/11 that influenced the coverage.

"I think people have to remember the post-9/11 era and how that felt and what the president felt he was empowered to do, and that Colin Powell speech at the U.N.," he said.

Couric, however, countered Williams' assessment.

"Our responsibility is to sometimes go against the mood of the country," she said, "and ask the hard questions."

[solymar2k]

Couric was most correct.....too bad her self-analysis
is about 7 yrs. too late.
I cannot BELIEVE those New Yorkers are not even more inquisitive about all the UNANSWERED questions as to HOW those box-cutter wielding Saudis were able to pull off the hijacking...and then, the amazing collapse of BOTH TOWERS from jet fuel that doesn''t EVEN burn HOT enough to MELT steel girders, let alone cause them to explode to smithereens during the freefall demolition...and then who are the idiots that cannot ask a simple question about WHY/HOW Building 7 collapsed the SAME way, without even a box-cutter wielding Saudi flying a jet masterfully into its core.....AND why NOOOOOOBOOODY spoke of how and WHY the BBC reported the collapse of BUILDING 7 at 5PM that day, when owner Silverstein gave the "PULL IT!" command for the detonation at 5:20PM!!!!!!!!!
Does anybody have a brain out there to figure this *** out???????????????????????
I only have a BA in biology and it looks very, very suspicious to me.
Who is running this country, anyway?????????

[usahay]

What a refreshing thing to hear from a major voice in the MSM! I definitely will be looking forward to listening to Ms. Couric from now on. As for Williams and Gibson, well, what can I say- they were at the least disappointing. The former was basically saying that the media''s role was to just go along with the purported public sentiment of the time (selectively forgetting of course, the thousands who turned up in anti-war rallies prior to the war, here and abroad) and not be concerned with facts.

Gibson on the other hand tried to congratulate himself and the MSM that they in fact asked the right questions- what those questions I certainly don''t remember. All I could remember were all these fancy graphics splashed on the TV screen promoting the invasion as if it was a sporting event. And I still vividly remember this one CNN newscaster who concluded her report on the war with and OH-RAH! like she was cheering on her favorite football team or something. If this lady and the rest of the Gibsons and the MSM were really serious about their role in a democracy, they should have had videos and photos of the carnage and destruction that the invasion was inflicting on the civilian population of Iraq and reporting the war as it happened.

Again, kudos to Ms. Couric (for at least accepting that she and the MSM were at at fault) and boos to Williams and Gibson!

[colonieny]

What faulty and short memories. I recall Pres Bush going to the UN and giving a convincing speech, and getting the full backing of even this group. He told us what was next. And we are now far better off for taking out some nut case Saddam who could have produced WMD within weeks. The aparatus was duel use, and ready to go.
Thank God that we have the guts to defend ourselves. As a decent democracy we are superior to the hordes of nations ruled by petty dictators and despots. Isn''t it about time we THANK Pres Bush for keeping u s SAFE all these years !!

[greatdrivew]

Gibson is a weasel.

Couric is honest and correct.

Williams gave a non-responsive answer; which puts him somewhere between Gibson and Couric.

[colasti]

Thanks Katie for saying it out loud and on national television. We''ve all known corporations were manipulating mainstream news but it was refreshing to hear it.

[alanrobisch]

katie couric is trying to make news not report news. whether she has a conscience or not her comments have been made many times by liberals. amazing that a cbs aka dan rather news reporter would take this tack considering that they made a report they couldn''t support with facts. they are still insisting the report was true but absent hard evidence.

News should be reports based on facts not opinions spun to create facts. She as a journalist should not be involved in commentary.

[stefandjack]

Good for Couric. At least she has a conscience. Charles Gibson, on the other hand, is more concerned with the horrible possibility of a tax increase on the rich (ie. Charles Gibson) that he has no time to cover the atrocities and crimes against humanity committed by the Bush Crime Family. His last interview with Bush was so cute and deferential that I was sure he''d end it by kissing Bush squarely on the lips.

[stpaulite]

Thanks Couric for showing that you can think and read the news..the other two blew off any responsibility for shaping the "Superbowl mentality" that existed the weeks before the start of the war. Of course, we didn''t anticipate that this would be a war of watching our young being blown to bits nitely and the Iraq people having to exit or be killed by those who came to save you possibly or be bombed by a terrorist willing to extinquish themselves to accomplish total terror of everyone. Thank Kate for speaking some truth..you were the only one speaking like a real journalist. I will be now watching Kate,not Charlie.

[stpaulite]

Thanks Couric for the courage to take some responsiblity of the lack determination the press showed in the build up...if fear works, we sure took the bait..hook,line and sinker. No protest not waiting for the United Nations, no one watching our for the young eager for the adventure of war and the promise of future education money, no thought of over-turning the Ford legacy of his outlawing the USA of disposing other national leaders, no outrage at using terrorist methods of waterboarding and holding people without legal recourse for five years. We lost our stand of justice and liberty for all and who will take the responsibility.."Not I," said the leaders, "Not I," said the press, and "Not I," said the people...sound familiar? Thanks Kate for not passing the buck for your profession. I"ll be watching you now.

[stpaulite]

Thank you Couric have the courage to say something worth paying attention to and considering. Brian''s comment was that of a passer-by,not a journalist and Charlie can''t see the forest from the trees. He must not been watching TV, nor noting that we couldn''t wait for the organization that we gave the power to keep the world peaceful...the United Nations! When the war was about to start, I was so angry about the "sports mentality" of the press, that I called CNN and asked if they could ask Aaron Brown to stop smiling so much. Now that we have gone through the surplus and have become heavily in debt to China, seen the USA lose the high and mighty stance of human rights by rationalizing waterboarding and ignoring Geneva Convention agreements,and seen the results of putting our soldiers in ill-equipped vehicles over road bombs blown to bits...guilt by the press and those who couldn''t imagine such human chaos...deny their roles. As a 70''s journalisn graduate, I know my professors are rolling over in their graves at the asleep at the wheel press. I''m now watching Kate!!

[vincan-2009]

This gives me a whole lot more respect for Katie Couric. Will no other media journalists face facts. Many would only print favorable Bush columns and would give total fealty to their dear president. Corporations who had their republican bias made sure that what Bush wanted he got. It was not easy to fight against the war mongering and war propaganda that we heard from every news source.

[bonds-drugs]

I think it is so funny that CBS has to pay dummy Couric so much money and she is sinking them lower and lower in the ratings. Smart move CBS.

[godofredo29]

Obviamente Gibson y Williams son complices.

[sebastian27-2009]

I heard someone question as to why McClelld didn''t speak out at the time. He was afraid because he knew that he would be fired, castigated and maligned the administration.
I can excuse him because he was a small fish and very few would have listened to him, anyway. I have more problems with why Gen. Powell didn''t resign in protest. He might have stopped it if he had resigned in protest. But he had been a general and was used to taking orders from the CIC. I lost respect for him.

[bonds-drugs]

Couric is a twit headed fool.

[rochest]

my remembrances of news conferences---we don''t answer hypothetical, we don''t comment on ongoing investigations, I already answered that question, next question please, fake reporters and real reporters losing access to the White House if they asked to many difficult questions or follow-up questions seeking answers to questions that were not answered in the first-place. Yes Katie Couric is correct.... many many pressures were present but the mainstream media caved... thank goodness for PBS, Mother Jones magazine, the New York Times, the nation magazine, The New Republic, and others. Not to forget the fake news shows John Stewart and the daily show and the Colbert Report...

[rochest]

my remembrances of news conferences---we don''t answer hypothetical, we don''t comment on ongoing investigations, I already answered that question, next question please, fake reporters and real reporters losing access to the White House if they asked to many difficult questions or follow-up questions seeking answers to questions that were not answered in the first-place. Yes Katie Couric is correct.... many many pressures were present but the mainstream media caved... thank goodness for PBS, Mother Jones magazine, the New York Times, the nation magazine, The New Republic, and others. Not to forget the fake news shows John Stewart and the daily show and the Colbert Report...

[rochest]

my remembrances of news conferences---we don''t answer hypothetical, we don''t comment on ongoing investigations, I already answered that question, next question please, fake reporters and real reporters losing access to the White House if they asked to many difficult questions or follow-up questions seeking answers to questions that were not answered in the first-place. Yes Katie Couric is correct.... many many pressures were present but the mainstream media caved... thank goodness for PBS, Mother Jones magazine, the New York Times, the nation magazine, The New Republic, and others. Not to forget the fake news shows John Stewart and the daily show and the Colbert Report...

[rochest]

my remembrances of news conferences---we don''t answer hypothetical, we don''t comment on ongoing investigations, I already answered that question, next question please, fake reporters and real reporters losing access to the White House if they asked to many difficult questions or follow-up questions seeking answers to questions that were not answered in the first-place. Yes Katie Couric is correct.... many many pressures were present but the mainstream media caved... thank goodness for PBS, Mother Jones magazine, the New York Times, the nation magazine, The New Republic, and others. Not to forget the fake news shows John Stewart and the daily show and the Colbert Report...

[gwagener]

The embarrassing part for the White House press to ponder is why they didn''t go after Bush at his infrequent press conferences like they did Bill Clinton.
If they asked a pertinent question George would become belligerent and the reporters would back off like mice. I have often thought that Sam Donaldson was taken off of the White House staff because is questions were too aggressive.
-------------------------------

Posted by Sebastian27 at 02:42 PM : May 28, 2008

You answered your own question. If a reporter asked a pointed question, the reporter was pointed toward the door and not invited back. If you wanted a seat in the room, you had to go easy on Bush. This is still true today.