"Should The Times Be a Truth Vigilante?" or How The New York Times is Emblematic of Our Pathetic News Media

On the exact anniversary of Congress passing authorization for force in Iraq, the New York Times public editor seriously asks whether "New York Times news reporters should challenge “facts” that are asserted by newsmakers they write about."

This is a sad reflection not only on the NYT but almost all of the news industry which follows the same milquetoast model. It is not good enough to echo a right wing talking point and a left wing talking point and declare that the truth must inevitably lie in the middle. That is the kind of laziness and cowardice that allowed falsehoods like the Bush administration's Iraq WMD claims to go unchallenged. It is not journalism.

http://t.co/iB38FDHB