I realize this story is 48 hours old (an eternity in the blogosphere), but I’m weighing in anyway. The myth of the “liberal media” can never be debunked often enough.
Last week, we learned that 60 Minutes bumped a segment on Bush using forged documents to make his case that Iraq was trying to develop nuclear weapons. Instead, the show, ironically, aired a segment about Bush’s National Guard service based in part on forged documents.
Over the weekend, the New York Times reported that CBS has officially killed the unaired story. Is it because the network doesn’t believe it can credibly tackle Bush’s misuse of forged documents, in light of its own troubles? I wish. No, CBS has explained it spiked the story because — get this — there’s an election coming up.
CBS said last night that the report on the war would not run before Nov. 2.
“We now believe it would be inappropriate to air the report so close to the presidential election,” the spokeswoman, Kelli Edwards, said in a statement.
Just so we’re clear, a major network and its flagship news program have killed a story — pardon me, an accurate and devastating story — about the president and the war because we’re getting close to the election. When voters need to see the news most, the network pulls the information from public view.
By this logic, Bush can expect absolutely no substantive criticism of his administration between now and Nov. 2, even when it’s true, because it might be “inappropriate” to broadcast it.
The next time someone tells you we have a liberal media, remind them of this nonsense. Kevin Drum said it best: “If this is the liberal media, conservatives can have it.”