Between Two Worlds

The editors at the Wall Street Journal suggest this morning that “Newsweek’s Explosive Allegation Was No ‘Honest Mistake.’”

They point to “a kind of permanent adversary media culture that goes beyond reporting the war news--good or bad as it should--and tends to suspect the worst about the military and American purposes.”

This media mindset, they argue, goes back to Vietnam, where a number of reporters made their careers “by turning into the war's fiercest critics and creating a culture of suspicion that the government always lies.”

Some key quotes from the article:

“We aren't saying that reporters shouldn't be skeptical, and they certainly have a duty to report when a war is going badly. Where the press corps goes wrong is in always assuming the worst about military and government motives.”

“Certainly a press corps that wants readers to forgive its own mistakes might start by showing a little more respect and understanding for the men and women who risk their lives to defend the country.”