New York Times editors resign following scandal 4

The Judith Miller story is more than just "who knew about what when". This story only demonstrates the sorry state of journalism today. Whether there is a Republican or Democrat in office, journalists consistently abdicate their responsibility to expose wrongdoing on the part of government officials. For our purposes here, lets look beyond what Judith Miller, Bob Novak, Bob Woodward, Dick Cheney, Karl Rove, or Lewis Libby said to each other and when. The real issue here involves what happens when journalists trade access to government officials in return for direct or indirect support of government actions. The media should act as the fourth estate, especially in the political environment that we find ourselves in today, with the executive and legislative branches all dominated by the same party. Journalists should act as that critical check that helps keep government in line by informing the public about what's going on through hard-hitting investigations. A critical media is important in a democracy. The truth of the matter is that the media did not take a critical look into our reasoning behind going to war with Iraq before it happened. This allowed the administration a free hand in claiming that Iraq was a threat, when in reality, the threat wasn't as evident, and in fact there were other motives at play behind the decision. As for Judith Miller, she was simply used by the Bush administration to get out the company line. This incident has actually made the media much more critical of the Iraq War, thus affecting public opinion of the war. Unfortunately, its too little too late. This problem stems from the nature of the 24 hour news cycle, which causes journalists to react to events rather than interpret them. While today's honesty is refreshing, they should not provide the illusion that there are simple answers here. Pulling out of Iraq will create a much larger problem for that country and the region in general. And of course, the media has to become more critical, and not just in a superficial way. The impression I'm getting is that they're waking up only to find a lot of egg on their faces over all of this.