We don't need freedom of the press. We need a press.

The press is once again looking at the pretty shiny things. Oh, there's no one behind that curtain. Let's move along, nothing to see here.

Eric Boehlert, Media Matters:

What's so startling is that we've seen this exact media retreat before -- during the fall of the 2004 campaign. Back then, when sustained, aggressive coverage of the unfolding chaos inside Iraq could have done real damage to the Bush/Cheney ticket, the press shifted its attention away from Baghdad. Instead of a summer of tenacious war coverage, Bush was blessed with a cable news agenda that focused on endless hurricane updates, Martha Stewart's legal woes, and the tawdry Laci Peterson trial. As pollster Peter Hart suggested at the time, any day between August 15, 2004, and October 15, 2004, that Iraq was not making headlines was a good day for the Bush campaign. Suffice it to say, Bush had a lot of good days that autumn.

It was not until after the election that the press -- and particularly television news -- once again showed deep interest in Iraq. Fact: In the 10 weeks prior to Election Day in 2004, the war in Iraq was the most reported story on the weekly night news programs just twice, according to the media research of Andrew Tyndall. But immediately following Bush's re-election, the war in Iraq instantly became the most covered story on the nightly news programs -- for seven weeks in a row.

[...]

There is clear evidence the MSM's pullback from Iraq is paying dividends for the White House, which badly wants the attention away from the war. (Iraq, after all, is "just a comma," according to Bush's weekend spin.) After months of steady erosion, and despite the wave of security breakdowns inside Iraq, the latest USA Today/Gallup poll contained a relatively dramatic turn in public opinion, showing a five percent decline in the percentage of people who think the war in Iraq was a mistake. (The number stands at 49 percent in September, compared to 54 in July and 57 percent in March.)

more