How corrupt the media?

[Undertoad]

You're right, it's definitely NOT the job of the media to make the case for war. But I still consider it their job to report the big facts on the ground.

The question is to what degree they see that as their job.

I finally found the Amanpour (of CNN) quote I was looking for here:

Said Amanpour: "I think the press was muzzled, and I think the press self-muzzled. I'm sorry to say, but certainly television and, perhaps, to a certain extent, my station was intimidated by the administration and its foot soldiers at Fox News. And it did, in fact, put a climate of fear and self-censorship, in my view, in terms of the kind of broadcast work we did."

Brown then asked Amanpour if there was any story during the war that she couldn't report.

"It's not a question of couldn't do it, it's a question of tone," Amanpour said. "It's a question of being rigorous. It's really a question of really asking the questions. All of the entire body politic in my view, whether it's the administration, the intelligence, the journalists, whoever, did not ask enough questions, for instance, about weapons of mass destruction. I mean, it looks like this was disinformation at the highest levels."

CNN is one of the outlets that admitted holding back on stories about the regime. On the other hand, they were booted out by Hussein early in wartime, for making reports by videophone instead of from the information ministry, and Amanpour herself was booted out way back in the beginning of the year for some reason I forget.