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

[lbjranch]

OK I get it, they were trying too hard, right.

[Palemoon]

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

That statement is an outright lie. If that was true, how come they didn't provide blanket coverage of our wiretappin­g/eavesdro­pping on communications by 6 members of the Security Council who were wavering about supporting us? Why wasn't there any insatiable coverage to find out who was behind the Plame leak? Why wasn't there any insatiable coverage to find out why Jayson Blair wrote all of those lies about Jessica Lynch, one of your own employees?? And why has there been no insatiable coverage over another of your employees connections to the mysterious death of Dr. David Kelly, a certain Judith Miller?

Mr. Keller, I think you best take your delusional propaganda to someplace the people might be stupid enough to believe it.

[ladybastet]

Please tell me you are still here and not on another thread. =/

[Palemoon]

Hey, I'm here, just was afk for a bit because I had to run an errand, lol.

[NicoloM]

The key phrase in that quote is "people in the administration were feeding", a/k/a propaganda. He is basically admitting to parroting propaganda.
Your post is about inquiry and curiosity (f/k/a journalism), which of course the administration was not feeding to Judy.
They also had a full menu of retired generals who they were feeding to the media.
Add to that a whole media empire (Murdoch) beating a drum that intimidated the NYT and others, and you get the dysfunction you describe.

[filo]

Their "scoops" were White House talking points and they swallowed them hook, line and sinker. They never bothered with the 5 W's. They never questioned anything. As excuses go this is a lamer.

[NicoloM]

Wow I just got scubbed for using the P word.
Let's try it this way: The key part of the phrase is that the NYT blindly reported what the "Administration were feeding" them,
Government feeding misleading information has a common name which means " ideas, facts, or allegations spread deliberately to further one's cause or to damage an opposing cause" or "the deliberate, systematic attempt to shape perceptions, manipulate cognitions, and direct behavior to achieve a response that furthers the desired intent of the P----"
The adminstration did the same thing when it trotted out retired generals to sell the war, and in that case the P---- was probably illegal.
I didn't think the common term was outlawed on the site.

[Ponderus]

It's starting to look like Judy belonged in prison...

[ladybastet]

btw - hello sheepy *hugs* long time no see ~_^

[DrJackD]

What a surprise---the media's first priority, money, distorted us into a needless and catastrophic pair of wars. What a surprise--­-lobbyists­' money corrupts politicians and democratic­ally-deman­ded reforms. What a surprise---the health industry's first priority is profit and you can all go die on yourselves but you will pay. What a surprise---you paid billions for "homeland security" but you can walk into a federal building or airport with your own terror-plans and equipment. What a surprise---Obama is for "rule of law" and "truth" etc. but doesn't want either a scientific or legal investigation of 9/11. What a---oh, somebody else take over from here. What a surprise---the LEFT has been correct about virtually everything troubling the country

[AnotherMcIntosh]

On 9/10/2001, when Dan Rather reported that $2.3 trillion was missing from the Pentagon, was that a scoop?

What happened to the money?

[NicoloM]

Hmm, fascinating although tangential, Is there a link to a direct quote from Dan Rather?

[Tracy Hale]

Oh, is that what we're calling it now?

[max08]

Read Mondoweiss for real I/P news. The NYT and Keller are incapable of it.

[cdnnewsjunky]

America has a serious greed issue going on.

[DestinationsUnknown]

hope it was worth it for her

her scoop cost her any integrity she may have had- and rightfully so

[max08]

How about an ”insatiable desire for THE TRUTH.“

[ElsaIndy]

Judith Miller will go down in history as one of the most dishonest journalists ever to write for an American paper. The NYT will never recover from acting as the Bush administration's enablers in the worst foreign policy blunder in the nation's history. For shame.

[DestinationsUnknown]

that is why she is on fox clown show

[desertdweller]

Judy slept with any Tom, Dick, or Harry that would giver her a few crumbs of insider information. Mata Hari indeed....

[Budokan]

It's a little too late to acknowledge your PaperFail.

[HekmabaJuzimax]

Reminds me of Raisin Bran. Two scoops. But no, they wanted more raisins. And more, and more, until finally they're as big as a house.

WTF am I saying now? Do I not have an off switch?

[HekmabaJuzimax]

Huh? What I'm I doing back here? What's going on?

[PepperzMom]

No, it was ego and kowtowing to Bush, quite possibly under "threat" from TPTB. . .

[johnnynyc]

I don't know how anybody can speak or write about the period before the Iraq invasion without mentioning the political climate fostered by the administration and the right wing noise machine.

The American people, dazed by 9/11, were giving Bush his highest approval ratings and anybody questioning them were beaten down.

It seems to me the news coverage at this time was a product of that climate.

Blame them for being human.

They wanted to believe Bush as much as most people did.

It sucks to be that wrong.