Rumsfeld Challenged Media mishandle Rumsfeld-McGovern exchange

[lovuian]

http://feeds.bignewsnetwork.com/redir.php?jid=c9668b183166b1d8&cat=3a8a80d6f705f8cc

NEW YORK - May 10 - It is not often that Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld finds himself aggressively questioned about the Iraq War. When that happened at a May 4 event, many in the media seemed not to know what to make of it.

During an appearance at the Southern Center for International Studies in Atlanta, Rumsfeld was confronted by several anti-war protesters, and was asked pointed questions from the audience by Ray McGovern, a retired CIA analyst. McGovern specifically queried Rumsfeld about his previous claims about the locations of Iraq's weapons of mass destruction, as well as his assertion that there was "bulletproof" evidence of a connection between Iraq and Al-Qaeda.

To some, the questions raised by McGovern were tantamount to heckling—as one May 4 Associated Press headline put it, "Rumsfeld Heckled by Anti-War Protesters During Atlanta Speech." That was echoed by CNN anchor Soledad O'Brien, who said (5/5/06) that Rumsfeld "was heckled by opponents of the war in Iraq. Among them, was Ray McGovern, a former CIA analyst, who asked him about previous claims weapons of mass destruction were in Iraq." CNN's Wolf Blitzer framed it all as a distraction from more serious issues (5/4/06): "Aside from the anti-Rumsfeld ranting, the defense secretary did get a chance to talk some substance on the war on terror." Though some antiwar protestors in the audience did interrupt Rumsfeld's speech with shouts and banners, McGovern asked his questions after being called on during the designated question-and-answer period, so it's hard to know why that might be called "heckling" or "ranting."

Other outlets were hard-pressed to find much news value at all in the exchange. The New York Times and USA Today (5/5/06), for example, ran tiny mentions of McGovern's questioning of Rumsfeld about his statements regarding the location of Iraq's WMDs and the country's ties to Al-Qaeda. Ironically, the Times made the incident the centerpiece of its May 7 editorial, apparently assuming that its readers were informed about the substance of the matter from other news sources. The Washington Post (5/5/06) ran an AP account of the Rumsfeld speech; the Los Angeles Times (5/5/06), to its credit, actually addressed what should have been the central issue—whether McGovern was right about Rumsfeld's exaggerations and inaccuracies
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Why haven't the press asked the questions to Rumsfeld why does he get away with it...

[Bruden]

1. Well, of course

The media are not used to seeing ANYBODY ask tough questions.