Media Meltdown

Dick Morris writes on the effects of the Iraq war on the public’s perception of “mainstream” media:
“Never before have Americans had the chance to watch the establishment media while also seeing events unfold for themselves, live, on television. Our collective understanding of the dissonance between the two is breeding a distrust of the major news organs that will likely long outlast this war.”
Morris’ view is that establishment media like the New York Times, CBS, NBC and ABC have been shown to be absurdly pessimistic and wildly inaccurate:
“Each morning, we sat reading our copy of The New York Times, The Washington Post or the Los Angeles Times and ruminated on their prophecies of doom and quagmire. Then we looked up to see, on television, correspondents actually embedded with our troops reporting quick advances, one-sided firefights, melting opposition and, finally, welcoming crowds.”
Well, he’s right, of course. We’ll see whether it has any long-term impact. For now, it is noteworthy that “among younger viewers (18-34), CBS Evening News fell 16 percent [during the Iraq war] while Fox News Channel gained fivefold.”