Media on Tenet

Kevin Drum notes the amazing divergence of headlines on DCI Tenet’s testimony yesterday. Having heard much of the testimony while driving home yesterday, I must admit I too am rather confounded by the take most of these stories give. I have repeatedly had this experience when reading reports of events that I’ve heard live: the reporting almost never matches my own perceptions of what took place. Sometimes, they’re 180 degrees off.

FILED UNDER: Media,
James Joyner
About James Joyner
James Joyner is Professor and Department Head of Security Studies at Marine Corps University's Command and Staff College. He's a former Army officer and Desert Storm veteran. Views expressed here are his own. Follow James on Twitter @DrJJoyner.

Comments

  1. Kevin Drum says:

    I’m not sure there’s anything wrong with this, mind you. It’s just a story with a lot of different angles.

    It’s usually pretty interesting to see how polls are handled too. Polls, of course, usually have at least a dozen interesting results among all the questions, but each reporter can only choose one to lead with. It’s kind of a Rorschach test in a way.

    (And for bloggers, too, who tend to see bias whenever a reporter chooses a different poll result to highlight than they would have….)

  2. James Joyner says:

    True enough. Not to mention the fact that headline writers isn’t usually the reporter.

  3. Kevin Drum says:

    Yes, although in this case I was highlighting the lead, not the headline. That’s definitely under the reporter’s (and editor’s) control.