The Media War and Journalist Thought Crimes

"When Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld appeared on Rush Limbaugh's talk radio show" recently, he made several remarks "on the subject of press coverage in Iraq" that have mostly escaped notice, writes Editor and Publisher. Rumsfeld said that "the terrorists, Zarqawi and bin Laden and Zawahiri, those people have media committees. They are actively out there trying to manipulate the press in the United States. ... They're much better at (laughing) managing those kinds of things than we are." He also said, "There have been far fewer journalists who have stepped up to become embedded" with military units in Iraq. One reporter told Rumsfeld that the perception was that embedded journalists "were really part of the problem." Rumsfeld commented, "I think that's an inexcusable thought."