908 Duration: 24.36 seconds
Jonathan Landay:
Because it would have meant, "Well, wait a minute, we reported last week that it was like this." And now you're saying, "Well, that was bogus -- that was bogus information -- or there was questionable intelligence." And now, not only are you calling into question the story that we published last week, but the credibility of the reporter who reported that story.
1083 Duration: 19.02 seconds
Julian Borger:
In both countries, in Britain and the US, you had a principal opposition party that was broadly, broadly supportive of going to war -- Or at least of putting a lot of pressure on Saddam Hussein up to the point of war -- the Tories in Britain and the Democrats here.
1113 Duration: 22.16 seconds
Julian Borger:
But on top of that instinctive reaction of "Well, it must be sensational because it was in the British press" is a reluctance to check it out properly. Or an over-readiness to accept assurances from the institutions -- the White House, whatever -- that although -- "There's nothing to the story. It's just a British story. Ignore it."
1122 Duration: 21.09 seconds
Julian Borger:
The rest of the crowd though has a much greater sense of caution, and a sense that if you're a "good journalist," the stuff you come out with must -- can't rock the boat too much -- it must -- it shouldn't be too far from the conventional wisdom.
1145 Duration: 14.51 seconds
Julian Borger:
There's one difference in the media coverage -- that the actions of the government with relation to international law are very much at the center of reporting -- certainly in Britain -- also in Europe. And they're just not at the center in the US.
1207 Duration: 20.85 seconds
Julian Borger:
In America, the head of state and the head of government is one person -- it's the President. In Britain, the head of government is a civilian -- He's not the head of state. He doesn't embody the nation. He's just another politician, and so he's answerable every week before Parliament -- has to go to "Question Time" and be grilled.
1208 Duration: 24.62 seconds
Julian Borger:
And that is a difference with America where it is beneath the dignity of the head of state -- the President -- to be grilled in such an undignified manner in Congress. So he doesn't have to face that. And without that -- Without that collision of executive and legislative, you don't have -- the sparks don't fly.
1209 Duration: 16.18 seconds
Julian Borger:
It's a relatively dull matter in Congress, because there are no real -- there are not the same "stinks". The President isn't there answering questions. Isn't there confronting angry Senators or Congressmen.
1821 Duration: 8.78 seconds
Jim Lobe:
You take the Post and the Times and they’re almost kind of institutions, institutions in the way arguably that Congress is an institution.
1823 Duration: 23.56 seconds
Jim Lobe:
The reporters look to other institutions for, in a sense, what is permissible to report and what is not -- particularly elite reporters. If it’s a matter of, say, foreign policy, the institution they look to -- for in a sense "permission" as to whether they can publish dissent -- is Congress and the opposition party in the Congress.
1830 Duration: 14.25 seconds
Jim Lobe:
And at the level of the Times and the Post you really are talking about kind of an institutional self-conception that’s like that -- looking for other institutions to validate what is okay and what is not okay.
1940 Duration: 26.96 seconds
Jim Lobe:
We're talking about institutions, which consist of people who make decisions. And they make decisions within a larger political framework. And the degree to which the political framework on this said, "You've got to find reasons for going to war." I think was a little overwhelming to an institution, even one that is supposed to pride itself on its independence, like the CIA.
2076 Duration: 22.99 seconds
Greg Mitchell:
Editors don't want to get too far ahead of what's already out there -- And one thing you always have to remember is -- While reporters get a lot of criticism for their individual stories, that it's really the editors who may assign the stories, who certainly okay the stories, certainly edit them. And just as important decide where they are going to be played in the paper.
2094 Duration: 9.54 seconds
Greg Mitchell:
Again, there was kind of an "Echo Chamber" built up here where there was very little questioning that was going on, and so the war came about rather easily.
2724 Duration: 2.84 seconds
Helen Thomas:
Well, both sides don't usually agree!
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