Known Unknowns: Left in the Dark on Mideast Policy

What is the state of U.S. media and political class 14 years into the “war on terror"
By Michael J. Brenner, February 14, 2016 | The Globalist | http://www.theglobalist.com/media-middle-east-policy-politics/

Takeaways

• Integrity routinely loses to careerism in contemporary American society, including the US media.
• Another explanation for abdication of journalistic duty by major outlets is White House pressure.
• US officials routinely complain to news executives or persuade them to treat a story differently.
• Losing independent media/think tanks and its threat to our democracy is bigger than the ISIS threat.

To read U.S. newspapers today for Middle East coverage and analysis is as much an exercise in sorting fact from fiction or omission as it was nearly 13 years ago when the United States invaded Iraq under false pretenses with U.S. media cooperation.
Recent examples include:

• Unqualified references in reporting on Syria’s civil war to al-Nusra and Ahrar al-Sham as “rebels,” or “the opposition” or as “moderate” Islamists
• Studiously avoiding any use of the name al-Qaeda or any allusion to direct roots in violent jihadist movements
• Virtually ignoring Russia’s military role in Syria, except to criticize it without qualification
  Ignoring Turkey’s full role in supporting both al-Nusra et al and ISIS, via flows of oil out and fighters in
• Leaving untouched the crucial role of Saudi Arabia and the Gulfies in financing jihadi groups in Syria and beyond

To be sure, some of the lack of incisive coverage can be traced to the closure and cutbacks of many foreign bureaus and growing reliance on thin wire service coverage. But many of the factors that discouraged accurate reporting in the run-up to the 2003 Iraq War have never been corrected – and may, indeed, be worse today.http://www.theglobalist.com/media-middle-east-policy-politics/