AP reports that Frontline will be showing a four part series on the news media entitled Newswar, starting on February 13. The series will start with a look at the Bush administration’s manipulation of the media in the run up to the war:
The first hour of the four-part series does a splendid job of untangling the snarl of events that began in early 2003 with the Bush administration’s successful drive to win support from the public, and the media, for invading Iraq.
Airing Tuesday on PBS at 9 p.m. EST (check local listings), “Secrets, Sources & Spin” lays out how the government peddled its point of view to major media outlets by planting confidential tips that supported administration claims about Iraqi weapons of mass destruction. Such tips sparked stories which the government then cited as bolstering its claim.
Few in the media broke this information loop at the time, nor managed to uncover what became obvious only after the invasion: There were no WMDs.
“The way that the press was sold and spun … and just fooled by the White House in the run-up to the war represents more than just a missed story,” media analyst Jay Rosen says in the film. “How can one say that we have a watchdog press after a performance like that?”
