War and the Media

Jeff Cohen and Ray McGovern talked about the corporate media’s coverage of the Bush administration during the lead-up to the invasion of Iraq. They argued that the corporate media failed in its responsibility to ask tough questions and instead decided to largely act as cheerleaders for going to war. Jeff Cohen addressed this issue through his experience producing MSNBC’s Phil Donahue Show during this period and talked about why the show was cancelled just prior to the invasion. Ray McGovern, who worked as a CIA analyst for 27 years, discussed what the intelligence community was saying about Iraq prior to the war and talked about a confrontation he had with Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld during an event in Atlanta in May 2006. After their presentations, writer-director Robert Taicher made remarks about his new documentary Rush to War. The discussion was moderated by Jeff Norman. The participants responded to audience members' questions.

Jeff Cohen wrote [Cable News Confidential: close