Bill Keller: "Insatiable Desire For Scoops" Fueled Press Failure In Run-Up To Iraq War

In the latest installment of TIME's 10 Questions, New York Times Executive Editor Bill Keller was asked by a reader in Portland, OR what he thought of the "free pass" the press gave the Bush administration in the run-up to the Iraq War.

"It was partly the insatiable desire for scoops people in the Administration were feeding about the potential threat in Iraq," Keller responded. "But a lot of it was just that we floated along with the conventional wisdom, the worst enemy of journalism."

The reader who asked the question may have been referring to former Times reporter Judith Miller. Miller has come under fire in the past for stories concerning Saddam Hussein's possession of weapons of mass destruction in the months before the invasion of Iraq. Her articles were often cited by Bush administration officials in justifying the March 2003 invasion. Miller later ran into controversy again when she was held in contempt of court and jailed as part of the Valerie Plame CIA-leak case.

In the interview, Keller also discusses the rise of online journalism, and the recent "Daily Show" segment which lampooned the Times as dated and out-of-touch.

"Well, that's the last time I try to be a good sport", Keller said. "Among the people who would miss us most would be the wise-guy pundits and scriptwriters for satirical TV shows, because they riff on the news we produce."

Read the full TIME 10 Questions here.

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Comments

[bobsee]

Total BS. Ever hear of "Operation Mockingbird". Please look it up.

[loki]

I think John King of CNN said it best when he was talking one day with Wolf about this same subject. He said that most of the reporters in at the white house, himself included, did not want to ask the tough questions and risk not getting called on again or even excluded from the white house press events.

In other words, they allowed the scam to happen over fears of losing their special status that made them feel important. They willingly became the propaganda machine for the white house out of fear of losing status.

[MadDemocrat]

Why haven't we gotten out of there yet? I thought your guy was going to leave as soon as possible so more of our troops don't get killed. But now he is sending more troops to Afghanistan too. I don't understand. Make love, not war. Bush lied, people died. Coexist. Remember?

[HST]

Yeah it's that liberal media again-LOL!

[larry278]

Sure, Bill, whatever you say or what Pooch Sulzberger told you to say. BTW, Bill, have you lined up a gig for a living after the NYT folds. If Senor Slim doesn't get his 14% on time, he'll fold the NYT. The NYT's real estate goes to the highest bidder, the presses, furnature & obsolete computer hardware will be sold for junk. No, Senor Slim has no intention of making the NYT into a Spanish language paper.
Line up a new gig now. American papers are in the throes of folding. Have you tried to learn the newer distribution patterns & ways of collecting & presenting news instantly in the news business? You'll be SOL if you haven't kept up with the many changes in the news business.
Rule out going into higher education too. That sector of the economy is not doing well either.

[LeeCalif]

Talk about pussyfooting around the truth.

Oh, but I forgot, it's Time.

[SansArc]

"Well, that's the last time I try to be a good sport", Keller said. "Among the people who would miss us most would be the wise-guy pundits and scriptwriters for satirical TV shows, because they riff on the news we produce."

Well thats funny. I thought the point of the Daily Show was to show just how full of crap the media is. They got played just like the rest of the MSM and they think they are something special.

[frappe]

Plane crash victims:
Mel Carnahan, D-MO, Oct. 16, 2000 (popular governor of MO in his first run for the Senate.)
Paul Wellstone, D-MN Oct. 25, 2002 (popular 2-termer, running for his third term)

..both within a couple of weeks of their senate elections.

[frappe]

Oops, wrong story...so­rry.

[bbbbmer]

Oh poppycock.­.. The press was co-opted by Bush, and they marched merrily to his tune.... May they all be damned to hell....

[satyriasis]

Well said.

Your name is familiar btw. Do you post at Sac bee.com too?

[Brett1981]

"It was partly the insatiable desire for scoops people in the Administration were feeding about the potential threat in Iraq," Keller responded.

---

What's a bigger scoop than "The administration is lying about Iraq"? I call BS.

[WorkingClass]

Way to connect the dots. He should have said "insatiable desire for scoops of BS".

[kindGSL]

Scoops of bs to help them in the cover up.

This story is a deflection.

[quindy]

Is there a legal way to sue journalists who have knowingly spread propaganda that cost over 4000 US soldiers their lives?

[kindGSL]

I am not a lawyer but I would think a class action in small claims court might be useful.

Neighbors got rid of crack houses that way by banding together and suing for the max in damages. The collective burden is usually worth more than the house, or at least the hassle, so landlords take notice.

Even if a suit like this is unsuccessful, it is news. Reporters don't want to cover this story so anyway to crack their wall of silence is worth a try.

I don't know why these reporters thought more of getting scoops than the truth or the lives of our troops, but they did. They should at least be brought up publicly for that in a venue they cant ignore. The courts do that.

[frappe]

Bull_ _ _ T! They knew exactly what was going on. It didn't take a genius to figure it out. The Bush press during the first 5 years of his administration was deliberately blind to what they were doing. They were pathetic sycophants. They were, in effect, the propaganda wing of the Bush administration. It was absolutely disgusting and they should be ashamed of themselves. They helped (s)elect Bush by not being the least bit critical of his background and history while being devastating and predatory to his Democratic rivals -- both Gore and Kerry.

[kindGSL]

And they were making money on it too.

[LIKEFLYNN]

LIKEFLYNN: "Insatiable Desire For Democrats " Fueled Press Failure In Obama Coverage"

[HST]

Are you going to compare a 6 month honeymoon with an 8 year one?

[LemonMeringue]

No, terrible management and no oversight is what caused your abominable failure.

[MajorKong]

In a just world, Judith Miller would be spending the rest of her life changing bedpans at Walter Reed.

[Derelict outlaw]

"But a lot of it was just that we floated along with the conventional wisdom, the worst enemy of journalism­."

He thought he was floating in wisdom but it was really just crap?

[kindGSL]

Don't you think at least one of the gravely wounded, in pain and seeing her daily, might want to kill her?

I think it would be bad form to subject them to that indignity. Having a person who put me there see me so unable and being so dependent on that person would enrage me horribly.

I can see why you might think there is humor in the image, but I do not think you were not thinking it through as to how her victims would feel about that.