Gabby Sizemore

Media Ethics
Book Review
4/12/16

In When the Press Fails: Political Power and the News Media from
Iraq to Katrina, published by the University of Chicago Press in 2007,
authors W. Lance Bennett, Regina G. Lawrence, and Steven Livingston
take a look at the relationship between the press and American Politics.
The authors focus on the media's poor performance in delivering the
truth during George W. Bushs presidency. According to the text, the
reporters had a large dependence on official sources in the white
house, which prevented them from serving as the watchdog to the
United States. With reporters depending largely on official sources it
caused the public to only see one side of the story.
The writers of this book shed the light on the truth behind
Washington D.C. and the news during the years between 9/11 and
Hurricane Katrina. They closely look at the medias reporting during
the Iraq War years, Abu Ghraib case, and the Katrina disaster.
One of the big topics and major criticisms during Bushs
presidency was the decision of moving into war with Iraq. After 9/11,
the Bush administration was suspicious of the Iraqi citizen, Saddam
Hussein. They linked him to have weapons of mass destruction and to
the 9/11 terrorist attacks but did not have pure evidence when Bush
declared war. Major news organizations believed this information to
quickly and published it in the news.
In The Iraq Story as Told by the Unwritten Rules of Washington
Journalism, they explain how they have found a number of instances

where the coverage was not as rigorous as it could have been. In this
story, it says, The problematic articles varied in authorship and
subject matter, but many shared a common feature. They depended at
least in part on information from a circle of Iraqi informants, defectors
and exiles depended on regime change in Iraq, people whose
credibility has come under increasing public debate in recent weeks
Complicating matters for journalists, the accounts of these exiles were
often eagerly confirmed by United States officials convinced of the
need to intervene in Iraq. Much of the blame for this situation has
been pointed to editors on each level who were not questioning
information and just trying to get whatever they had out to the public
before other news outlets.
Another main topic in the book is the Abu Ghraib case; during
this case, American soldiers were accused of mistreating prisoners.
Photographs appeared of prisoners being forced to build pyramids with
their naked bodies, leashing them like dogs, sexual humiliation, and
brutality. CBS was ready to broadcast on April 12 but withheld the story
at the request of the Defense Department for two weeks. This is
another instance where the media let the government overrule their
decision to run a story.
The last topic that was spoken about in this book was Hurricane
Katrina. During this time, George W. Bush was on a long-planned
vacation and the media was able to live stream unedited coverage

from New Orleans. These news stories showed the public that the
government lacked a response to the natural disaster. During this time,
the government found out about the crisis down south through the
media. Bennett wrote,daily routines of press politics were
reestablishedKatrina does tell us something about what it takes to
create a moment of truly independent press coverage.
This book showed how the media during the Bush administration
went on a downhill spiral because they relied on high government
officials for information. If the media is not acting as a watchdog to our
society then there is really no point. The book says, This idea
envisions the press keeping a skeptical eye trained on the government,
guarding the public's interest and protecting the misinformation,
incompetence, and corruption. Journalists jobs are to inform citizens
about what is going on in the world so they can decide what can be
done to solve the problems. If journalists do not remain objective they
risk making the decision for citizens and running their credibility.
This book is really great and teaches the audience how
journalists function in a democracy. It also shows journalists what can
happen if the media starts relying on one side and does not remain
objective. This book was written really well, but also made me nervous
about the field I am getting into. I want to remain as objective as
possible when reporting and dont want a higher power to affect what I

report to citizens. In the end of this book, I was just left hoping that the
objectivity of reporting will remain part of the media.