General Discussion

Nevilledog

(54,872 posts) Thu Feb 19, 2026, 03:58 PM 3 hrs ago

The US news media is failing the public in its coverage of a possible war against Iran

https://presswatchers.org/2026/02/the-news-media-is-failing-the-public-in-its-coverage-of-a-possible-war-against-iran/

Donald Trump may well be careening into a major war, and the American corporate media coverage is credulous, stenographic, and feeble when it should be vigorously alerting the American people to how dangerous and counterproductive the war could be, to the lack of any reasoned argument in its favor, to how it would violate one of Trump’s key campaign promises, and to the fact that Trump has not received authorization from Congress as required by the Constitution.

American journalists are busy speculating on will-he-or-won’t he and dutifully noting the position of military assets. What they should be doing is asking Trump officials some essential questions on behalf of the public — and calling attention to the lack of answers.

Some of those essential questions:

Why would you go to war?

What legal justification do you have to go to war?

How can you justify going to war without getting Congressional authorization?

How can you justify going to war when the public is resoundingly against it?
What do you expect to get out of going to war?

How will this make things better rather than worse?

How long will the war last?

How does the war end?

How much will it cost, and how will you pay for it?

And for all of these, a follow-up question: Show us your supporting evidence.

The fact is that there is almost no more important job for the news media than to demand answers to these sorts of questions before a president takes the country to war.

*snip*