now the White House has to find a way to FORCE the media to pay attention to this story.
the white house could send Bush to a microphone any time they wanted, they don't do it. they could have done it yesterday - not to claim some massive WMD find, but just to note that this had occurred and was being investigated. The political team is media tone deaf.
put womens panties on the head of the wmds. Sure fire way to coverage.
There is no way government can force the media to do anything. A little thing called the First Amendment stands in the way. The White House could hold a dramatic news conference, with the President standing next to a table full of Iraqi WMD, and the hostile media would still find a way to diminish the moment.
Even in this era when alternative news sources are plentiful, there are many ways the so-called mainstream media shape what passes for news consumed by most people. One method is omission — if it isn't mentioned by Peter, Tom, Dan, Katie/Matt, Diane/Charlie, or the local "happy talk" news, the vast majority of the public remains uninformed. Another method is emphasis (spin): Yep, they found a shell filled with sarin, but it was old, rusty, probably just one that someone forgot about years ago.
When they combine both omission and spin, the effect is quite powerful. A current example is the fuss made the last couple of days over Seymour Hersh's article. He got a lot of face time on TV, always introduced as the "Pulitzer-prize-winning reporter" to emphasize that what he says should be taken as gospel. What the "mainstream" media omits is Hersh's long history of reportorial lies and misrepresentation. What the public is left with is the notion that Donald Rumsfeld all but ordered Iraqi prisoners to be abused. That is not true. Most in the media know it's not true. But the lie serves a purpose.
If I could wave a magic wand and effect reforms in modern journalism, I'd require:
(1) At least one named source in each story (i.e., no stories that rely totally on anonymous sources).
(2) Restoration of balance to libel and slander laws, making it easier for both "public" and private citizens to hold the media accountable through civil lawsuits.
(3) Tossing the silly notion of "objectivity" overboard. No human being is ever totally objective. Let every reporter and commentator inform the public of their political, corporate, and other affiliations, and let the chips fall where they may.
(4) Overturning the Supreme Court decision (Pentagon Papers) that said it is OK for journalists to steal in order to obtain source material for their stories.