DAILY HOWLER ON 'THE PERFECT STORM'

Bob Somerby points out that the press still isn't getting it right on Iraq intelligence - and why you shouldn't trade the quick hit of "gotcha!" for responsible journalism:

Uranium-from-Africa? The item was chosen for its high drama; it has those entertaining crudely forged documents (although no one seems to be asking who forged them), and it has that stirring honest ambassador. And Niger was chosen for its murk—the story is driven by several conflations in which the press corps has taken delight. Here at THE HOWLER, we stand with that mailer; without prejudging what a probe would show, we’d like to see a real probe of these matters. But if we let the press corps play with the facts, and if we let them dawdle on that side road, we’ll never see a real investigation. Clinton had it right on Larry King Live—this Niger matter is just no big deal. An American president cites British intelligence, and that is supposed to be a Big Scandal? But then, Perfect Storms are built on spin—and they allow a lazy press to ignore “much larger patterns.”

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