How the Press Rolled Over for Bush: Eric Boehlert Takes on the Corporate Media

We take a look at media coverage of the war, the Bush administration and other issues that have or should have made headlines during the last six years.

Journalist Eric Boehlert argues in his new book, "Lapdogs: How the Press Rolled Over for Bush" that the mainstream media essentially gave up its role as defenders of the public interest and instead succumbed to pressure from the Bush White House and the conservative right. Bohelert writes that the reasons for this were many including a "consolidated media landscape in which owners were increasingly -- almost exclusively -- multinational corporations; the same corporations anxious to win approval from the Republican -controlled federal government to allow for even further ownership consolidation. The press timidity was also fueled by the Republicans" tight grip on Congress...and the mainstream media's natural tendency to revere Beltway power...The timidity was also driven by Beltway careerism; by media insiders who understood that despite the cliché about the liberal media, advancement to senior positions was actually made doubly difficult for anyone with a reputation for being too far left, or too caustic toward Republicans."

Boehlert argues that the administration used a variety of tactics to undermine and control the press including curbing access, bullying reporters, hyping terror alerts, paying off pundits and producing fake newsreels or VNRs.

* Eric Boehlert, journalist and contributing editor to Rolling Stone Magazine. He is a former senior writer for Salon and author of the new book, "Lapdogs: How the Press Rolled Over for Bush."

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