I read The Register because they put an insightful and irreverent spin on tech news. Occasionally they break into the realm of insightful and biting political observations that should not go unnoticed. This past Friday Thomas Greene wrote a great piece on the news media reaction to recent bomb scares in England. Please excuse the odd spelling and use of quaint terms like “rubbish.” They can’t help it, they’re from the wrong side of the Atlantic:

Yes, the Bushies asked for the war, and yes, Congress authorised it, but the mainstream news industry enabled it. They literally sold it. The Iraq war could not have been undertaken if the American press had the spine to do their jobs, and had tried to verify what the Administration was claiming. The press would soon have discovered that the White House’s story could not be verified. If American reporters had simply done what they’re paid to do, the front page headlines of America’s newspapers would have read: “No Credible Evidence of Bush WMD Claims”, instead of “Shock and Awe”.

I generally don’t like it when journalists make each other the subjects of withering critique, but generally that comes up in regards to coverage of meaningless aspects of political races or whatever Hollywood scandal is wasting airtime that week. On matters of serious policy matters (as opposed to frivolous policy matters), I’m much more inclined to lend my ear.

The conclusion of his look at how the British press mishandled the recent “explosive” devices found in London and Glasgow, and how the American press has handled international events since 9/11/2001 is that the news media is every bit as responsible for the current mess we’re in as George Bush and Tony Blair are. Greene takes it a step further: the journalists, media outlets, and politicians that have capitalized on and encouraged the pervasive fear of Islamic extremists groups are themselves terrorists.

Clearly he meant organizations like Fox News, NBC, CBS, and ABC, all of whom enthusiastically ginned up the casus belli, but I think it goes further than that. On the other end of the political media spectrum, there are many that have latched on to a broad theme of “The West Under Siege” that has a similar effect and similar motivations. Leftie/progressive bloggers, radio hosts, and even former sportscasters have been vigorously proclaiming that our civil liberties and representative democracy are in mortal peril. It’s a shame, but fear sells.