Koring, P. (2004). 'We were all Wrong':Iraq did not Possess Banned Weapons, Former Arms Expert Tells Senators. Globe and Mail. Jan. 29, 2004.

?We were all wrong.? The remark of the former chief U.S. weapons sleuth David Kay about the issue of whether Iraq retained weapons of mass destruction was quoted broadly and placed on front pages by a good deal of news organizations. Kay pointed out that contrary to earlier claims by President Bush and his Cabinet, Saddam Hussein did not possess "large stockpiles" of chemical and biological weapons and was not actively pursuing nuclear weapons. Moreover, he denied the allegation by Democrats towards Bush administration that the White House exaggerated intelligence to go to war. Kay stated that it was a problem caused by failed intelligence.

In the past 24 hours since the initial information was released, the relevant news have been reported or complied by more than 1,200 news agencies all over the world (according to the number on http://news.google.com/). It is not amazing that the news will have an impact on the public perception towards the current Bush administration, especially during the campaign.

I found the news is interesting in that during the earlier time most news organizations still kept attempting to convey one belief to the public that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction, which haven?t been spotted yet. The ?fact? was even intensified even though U.S. army has failed to obtain the reliable proofs about the existence of WMD in Iraq at times. Whatever the actions and results U.S. troops took, the first impressions imposed on the audiences by the news stories then was that it was definite that WMD existed in Iraq somewhere. Now the whole situation was turned over.

It is understandable that truth sometimes can be disguised and it takes some time to disclose what the fact is. Yet, we still have to retrospect the roles media took in the process of Iraq War. It is the first time that news reporters can be with the whole process of the war and get the firsthand information from the army. But are the stories the real reflections of the war or simply tools used to persuade the public into believing something? Is the responsibility of media to tell the public truth or tell them something to make them believe it?s the truth? It is a long discussed question since the emergence of news media. Hopefully this news can offer us something new to think over.
Where went wrong?