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So Wrong for So Long: How the Press, the Pundits--and the President--Failed on Iraq
It is often said that a free press is the watchdog of democracy, insuring that the conduct of our leaders is examined with a critical eye. This makes Greg Mitchell the watchdog of watchdogs, as tracking the performance of the media is his beat at Editor & Publisher , the influential magazine of the newspaper industry. Over the past five years, his weekly column “Pressing Issues,” has intensely scrutinized the coverage of the Iraq war, the media’s views of the credibility of the Bush Administration, and such related topics as 9/11, the war in Afghanistan, and the CIA Leak Case. Now, as the war in Iraq reaches its 5th anniversary, this first-ever collection, with more than 75 of Mitchell’s columns, provides a unique history of the conflict, from the hyped WMD stories to the “surge.”
Back in 2003, Mitchell was one of the few mainstream journalists to question the grounds for war. Today, Mitchell looks ahead at lessons for the future with an original introduction and connecting material that updates and unifies his original essays. From prescient early columns warning of a long, bloody war to Stephen Colbert’s in-his-face mockery of President Bush to a piece titled “No Pat Answers in the Tillman Case,” this book will appeal to press critics, bloggers, media professionals, teachers, students, and everyone concerned with how we got into Iraq and why we can’t seem to get out. With more than 160,000 American troops still fighting there, debate over the war continues to rage on news and editorial pages from big city dailies to weekly papers in small towns. Against this controversial backdrop, Greg Mitchell is the one reporter examining all the coverage and taking the long view of the press’s performance.
Back in 2003, Mitchell was one of the few mainstream journalists to question the grounds for war. Today, Mitchell looks ahead at lessons for the future with an original introduction and connecting material that updates and unifies his original essays. From prescient early columns warning of a long, bloody war to Stephen Colbert’s in-his-face mockery of President Bush to a piece titled “No Pat Answers in the Tillman Case,” this book will appeal to press critics, bloggers, media professionals, teachers, students, and everyone concerned with how we got into Iraq and why we can’t seem to get out. With more than 160,000 American troops still fighting there, debate over the war continues to rage on news and editorial pages from big city dailies to weekly papers in small towns. Against this controversial backdrop, Greg Mitchell is the one reporter examining all the coverage and taking the long view of the press’s performance.
320 pages, Paperback
First published March 4, 2008
10 people are currently reading
169 people want to read
About the author
Greg Mitchell
80 books84 followersGreg Mitchell (born 1947) is the author of more than a dozen books. His new book (2020) is "The Beginning or the End: How Hollywood--and America--Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb" (The New Press). His previous book, from Crown, has been optioned for a major movie. It is titled "The Tunnels" and explores daring escape tunnels under the Berlin Wall in 1962--and the JFK White House attempts to kill NBC and CBS coverage of them at the height of nuclear tensions.
Mitchell has blogged on the media and politics, for The Nation. and at his own blog, Pressing Issjes. He was the editor of Editor & Publisher (E&P), from 2002 to the end of 2009, and long ago was executive editor at the legendary Crawdaddy. His book "The Campaign of the Century" won the Goldsmith Book Prize and "Tricky Dick and the Pink Lady" was a New York Times Notable Book for 1998. He has also co-authored two books with Robert Jay Lifton, along with a "So Wrong For So Long" about the media and Iraq. His books have been optioned numerous times for movies (including "Joy in Mudville" by Tim Hanks). He has served as chief adviser to two award-winning documentaries and currently is co-producer of an upcoming film on Beethoven with his co-author on "Journeys With Beethoven."
Mitchell has blogged on the media and politics, for The Nation. and at his own blog, Pressing Issjes. He was the editor of Editor & Publisher (E&P), from 2002 to the end of 2009, and long ago was executive editor at the legendary Crawdaddy. His book "The Campaign of the Century" won the Goldsmith Book Prize and "Tricky Dick and the Pink Lady" was a New York Times Notable Book for 1998. He has also co-authored two books with Robert Jay Lifton, along with a "So Wrong For So Long" about the media and Iraq. His books have been optioned numerous times for movies (including "Joy in Mudville" by Tim Hanks). He has served as chief adviser to two award-winning documentaries and currently is co-producer of an upcoming film on Beethoven with his co-author on "Journeys With Beethoven."
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
December 27, 2008
A collection of columns and a retrospective look at how the Iraq/Afghan war was framed in the context of post-911 and terrorism.
Learned or relearned:
1. Liberal media bias was a myth- A majority, as an American society, mostly bought and supported the run up to war either directly (volunteering or + spin stories) or indirectly (silence, resignation) because we wanted to both believe that Saddam has WMD and thought there were some links to 911.
1A. A cursory examination of history and knowledge of the country's governance and religious makeup (Sunni vs Shiite) would have easily led one to conclude that there was almost no way that the Taliban, Iran's theocracy and Saddam's weird non secular dictatorship would have coexisted for anything that rivialed 9/11.
2. This war has had disastrous results for all involved (victims, participants, citizens, politicians, etc) and has global implications (war on the cheap and with borrowed money). To give this administration unlimited freedoms to prosecute this fiasco will haunt at least 2-3 global generations with its results.
3. The voices of dissent were truly buried on the back or inner pages of the media and often given short shrift. We, as an American society, have ourselves to blame for the gaul, hubris, greed and unmitigated nationalism that allowed this war to proceed. The number of casualties is astounding when taken into context of what was accomplished.
4. The result was we turned a marginally functioning country with little threat to either the US or, really, its neighbors that contained some degree of hope after Saddam was gone into a parking lot full of angry, disillusioned, vitriolic folks. IF you think the shoe throwing journalist is a 'dead ender of a weakening insurgency', rewind your tape to some point in 1967-69 from VietNam. That's what we've got unfolding here.
Learned or relearned:
1. Liberal media bias was a myth- A majority, as an American society, mostly bought and supported the run up to war either directly (volunteering or + spin stories) or indirectly (silence, resignation) because we wanted to both believe that Saddam has WMD and thought there were some links to 911.
1A. A cursory examination of history and knowledge of the country's governance and religious makeup (Sunni vs Shiite) would have easily led one to conclude that there was almost no way that the Taliban, Iran's theocracy and Saddam's weird non secular dictatorship would have coexisted for anything that rivialed 9/11.
2. This war has had disastrous results for all involved (victims, participants, citizens, politicians, etc) and has global implications (war on the cheap and with borrowed money). To give this administration unlimited freedoms to prosecute this fiasco will haunt at least 2-3 global generations with its results.
3. The voices of dissent were truly buried on the back or inner pages of the media and often given short shrift. We, as an American society, have ourselves to blame for the gaul, hubris, greed and unmitigated nationalism that allowed this war to proceed. The number of casualties is astounding when taken into context of what was accomplished.
4. The result was we turned a marginally functioning country with little threat to either the US or, really, its neighbors that contained some degree of hope after Saddam was gone into a parking lot full of angry, disillusioned, vitriolic folks. IF you think the shoe throwing journalist is a 'dead ender of a weakening insurgency', rewind your tape to some point in 1967-69 from VietNam. That's what we've got unfolding here.
December 20, 2013
This should be a primer for journalism students.
June 26, 2023
A lot of important information to remember about our recent past. A lot of spin, too.
This book named a few troops who were killed in action, and also others who died while deployed in other than combat situations. Also, it named a few victims of suicides in theater and upon returning. There are many more, and the number increases everyday. I hope all who read this reflect on the burden troops bear. Sometimes it breaks us even after we have been home for years. I give my condolences to all the families who lost loved ones named herein and the many more unnamed, regardless of national origin. I remember brothers and sisters who are gone each day.
This book named a few troops who were killed in action, and also others who died while deployed in other than combat situations. Also, it named a few victims of suicides in theater and upon returning. There are many more, and the number increases everyday. I hope all who read this reflect on the burden troops bear. Sometimes it breaks us even after we have been home for years. I give my condolences to all the families who lost loved ones named herein and the many more unnamed, regardless of national origin. I remember brothers and sisters who are gone each day.
December 26, 2021
The question isn't whether Iraq did or didn't have have WMD. Even if they did the invasion would still have been wrong. Who gave the US the right to say who can have what weapon for their own defence?
October 5, 2017
This books show the true need for the 4th state and the tragedies that befall our country with journalism dies. A massive war was fought and supported due to miss information. Soldiers lost their lives due to lies. This isn't the first time it has happened in history, and I fear that it will not be the last, but by pressing journalist and publication companies to stand separate and in questioning conflict with government is one of the ways to avoid such loss. This book discusses the many times when journalist because talking heads for the administration and stopped being reporters. In a current climate where #fakenews is the news there is even more confusion. I believe the only way to solve it is for more reporters to get boots on the ground, talk to those involved and effected, and stop talking platitudes, but talk to real people.
January 25, 2010
I am saddened to say that I discovered the fabulous Editors & Publishers website *just* before it closed shop. It is being re-launched under the same name, but without the brilliant editor who put together this compilation of E&P essays.
The essays trace a time line from 2003-2007 detailing the very LACK of a liberal bias in the nations newspapers. Not only that, but just a complete lack of willingness to get a story RIGHT no matter what sort of bias might be perceived. It's like they were all paralyzed by the groundswell of patriotism that swept the country after 9/11 (understandable to some extent), but forgot their role as reporters to not view events through such prisms.
It's an easy read if you call reading about the unfolding of war easy. Especially a war launched for the wrong reasons, yet never once questioned until we were mired in it's web. But the essays are short and concise and several of them gave me chills.
The essays trace a time line from 2003-2007 detailing the very LACK of a liberal bias in the nations newspapers. Not only that, but just a complete lack of willingness to get a story RIGHT no matter what sort of bias might be perceived. It's like they were all paralyzed by the groundswell of patriotism that swept the country after 9/11 (understandable to some extent), but forgot their role as reporters to not view events through such prisms.
It's an easy read if you call reading about the unfolding of war easy. Especially a war launched for the wrong reasons, yet never once questioned until we were mired in it's web. But the essays are short and concise and several of them gave me chills.
February 22, 2015
A detailed witness of the Bush subversion of American media.
For Boomers, the American news media were a bastion of professionalism renowned for an ability to present facts and expose deceit to voters. In the second Bush presidency, media not only failed, but became complicit in falsehood to a degree thought impossible, with a speed that seemed almost instantaneous at the time. Contrarian guardians we relied on were winkingly on the take. This book details flaws of a rogue presidency and testimony of media threatened and subverted - a media many of us will never trust again. A crucial history of our time.
For Boomers, the American news media were a bastion of professionalism renowned for an ability to present facts and expose deceit to voters. In the second Bush presidency, media not only failed, but became complicit in falsehood to a degree thought impossible, with a speed that seemed almost instantaneous at the time. Contrarian guardians we relied on were winkingly on the take. This book details flaws of a rogue presidency and testimony of media threatened and subverted - a media many of us will never trust again. A crucial history of our time.
November 30, 2013
3.5
This is a hard book to classify, and even harder to talk about. I was 14 when the war in Iraq began, and understood very, very little about what was happening. I supported it because my parents did, because it seemed like the only reasonable course of action to take. Clearly, I was not alone. This series of articles really captures a frantic time that I lived through, and yet, was completely oblivious of. This is a hard book, but only because of the unflinching honesty within.
This is a hard book to classify, and even harder to talk about. I was 14 when the war in Iraq began, and understood very, very little about what was happening. I supported it because my parents did, because it seemed like the only reasonable course of action to take. Clearly, I was not alone. This series of articles really captures a frantic time that I lived through, and yet, was completely oblivious of. This is a hard book, but only because of the unflinching honesty within.
January 4, 2015
The book is a collection of the author's journalistic writings, and as such doesn't paint the picture of media coverage very well, it's more like "I was right the whole time, and you were wrong". It's still able to capture the cover-up/propaganda campaign that happened in the hysterical period around the Iraq war and to show how the media was complicit with the start of the war.
March 27, 2009
Why we need to think for ourselves..not jump on talking head bandwagons when we send our men and women into war.
Use alternative media...do not buy into fear so easily..
learn from history.
It is like a greek tragedy repeating itself...read, and get informed. Press Your Government for answers.
Use alternative media...do not buy into fear so easily..
learn from history.
It is like a greek tragedy repeating itself...read, and get informed. Press Your Government for answers.
May 14, 2010
And they call it a liberal media. They sure failed then with the lead up to Iraq--- and this adds much to what we already suspected/knew.
December 9, 2013
Outstanding report on how US journalists failed to ask the tough questions about our entry into the Iraq war.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews