Bill Moyers' 'Buying the War'

"Buying the War," a Bill Moyers PBS documentary that aired in most TV markets on Wednesday night, is a powerful bookend to The Big War Story the Media Is Ignoring, my essay on how the mainstream media was shocked, awed and duped in the wake of 9/11 and the run-up to the Iraq War.

Moyers begins:

"Four years ago this spring the Bush administration took leave of reality and plunged our country into a war so poorly planned it soon turned into a disaster. The story of how high officials misled the country has been told. But they couldn't have done it on their own; they needed a compliant press, to pass on their propaganda as news and cheer them on.

"Since then thousands of people have died, and many are dying to this day. Yet the story of how the media bought what the White House was selling has not been told in depth on television. As the war rages into its fifth year, we look back at those months leading up to the invasion, when our press largely surrendered its independence and skepticism to join with our government in marching to war."

"Buying the War" will be rerun, but if you can't wait, click here for a transcript.