The Soleimani Strike and the Problem With Media Rushing to Judgment

The reality is that sometimes taking military action is desirable other times refraining is the prudent decision The latter was true of President Eisenhower39s decision not to intervene when Hungary attempted to free itself from Soviet domination in 1956 thereby reducing the risk of a potentially catastrophic open conflict between the United States and the Soviet Union However other cases amp8212 such as foregoing the opportunity to nip North Korean aggression in the bud amp8212 are more debatable Either way it takes at least some time to evaluate the appropriateness of a military action this excludes instantaneous reactions on the part of media commentatorsThe Matamp233 club a group famous for wisely condemning quotcorporate media39squot reflexive quotall roads lead to Putinquot narrative has become no better Their narrative outlined in last week39s column is as it is amp8212 the specifics of a particular event be damned As for their oil point for instance which underlies so much of their narrative this is not the world of the early 2000s between 2008 and 2018 American petroleum production increased by nearly 88 percent with net imports similarly declining For the group who believes that quotneoconservativesquot are secretly calling the foreign policy shots in the Trump administration there is little engagement with the reality that Bill Kristol and other prointerventionist proponents have become sworn enemies of the president39s currently even strategizing to force President Trump off the 2020 ticketSimilarly according to an October 13amp821115 YouGov poll quotconservativesquot were over four times more likely to strongly approve of the decision to withdraw US forces from the SyriaTurkey region than quotliberalsquot 25 percent versus 6 percent This suggests considerable electoral incentives for the president to avoid largescale conflict with Iran And perhaps most relevant of all for the Matamp233 club39s narrative is that amp8212 this time around amp8212 many media outlets have been critical of President Trump39s justifications for authorizing the strike that killed Soleimani But when you have a hammer everything looks like a nailAgain the Matamp233 club was not alone in rushing to judgment Other outlets pumped out stories suggesting that quotUS and Iran are on the brink of warquot as well as pieces giving credence to Internet hysteria that quotWorld War IIIquot is imminent The Matamp233 club may be quick to accuse politicians of both parties of warmongering but fearmongering about war particularly when global tensions are running high is just as dangerousThis is all exacerbated by the fact though that events kept changing For instance this entire quotwar is imminentquot narrative was briefly toppled on the afternoon of January 6 when Reuters and others reported that American ground forces were withdrawing completely from Iraq then the news cycle would have to rush to correct that claim when the Department of Defense denied that such a withdrawal was underwayMedia outlets would also claim that the large number of mourners present at Soleimani39s funeral was evidence of the popularity of the Iranian regime Then when protesters took to the streets against the regime on January 11 other commentators would be left to conclude the precise opposite Again unfolding stories change quickly and there is little to be gained amp8212 at least when it comes to credibility or accuracy in reporting amp8212 by jumping to conclusionsOne positive aspect of this otherwiseunfortunate rush to judgment however ought not be ignored If a January 8 BuzzFeed story is correct the vehemence by which Tucker Carlson denounced the strike may have influenced President Trump39s decision to deescalate tensions with Iran According to the BuzzFeed piece the president watched Tucker Carlson39s monologue denouncing the strike and quotit had affected Trump39s view on the Iran situationquot a point that serves as a useful reminder that the relationship between news outlets and politicians is a twoway street the actions of politicians influence the news but how the news is reported in turn also influences the decisionmaking of political actorsTo conclude with the Matamp233 club a microcosm and the most egregious offender of the rush to judgment it39s curious how the group has declined to walk back any of their quotWorld War IIIquot hysteria For a group that has been so critical of other media actors for failing to express regret for overplaying the Russia case they just moved along to talking about Venezuela Joe Biden39s Iraq War vote and their other favorite topics That is except for Michael Tracey who instead of moving on did something worse by doxxing a wellknown Twitter user who did not share his foreign policy worldview All of this suggests that January 2020 may prove to be a jumpingtheshark downfall moment for this once interesting group of commentatorsWe still do not know what will happen with Iran Although the risk of fullscale conflict appeared to greatly diminish on the afternoon of January 8 the situation is still precarious However what strikes me as particularly unfortunate is that amp8212 after all of the anxiety that war was imminent and concerns of a potential draft became so widespread that the Selective Service website crashed amp8212 one would think the news media would take even a day or two to enjoy the relief that at least for now the worst has not come to worst But no within hours it was onto the next batch of scandals rumors and hystericsClick the social buttons to share this story with your friends and colleaguesThe opinions and points of view expressed in this content are exclusively the views of the author andor subjects and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillagecomMyersBizNet Inc management or associated writers

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The Soleimani Strike and the Problem With Media Rushing to Judgment

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Erich J. Prince

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The Soleimani Strike and the Problem With Media Rushing to Judgment

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