Media columnist Margaret Sullivan in today's Washington Post:
In political media, as in love, there aren’t many chances to correct a serious wrong.
But the news media will get just that on Wednesday when Robert S. Mueller III testifies before Congress, months after his long-awaited report on Donald Trump and possible Russian collusion to swing the 2016 election was competed.
Recall how gullible — and therefore misleading to the public — the news media was in March when Attorney General William Barr characterized the unreleased report in a four-page letter.
Coverage of that letter set in place an inaccurate narrative that has been almost impossible to dislodge.
Many news organizations, including some of the most prominent, took what Barr said at face value or mischaracterized the report’s findings.
Most of the credulous stenographers of the mainstream media got it terribly wrong last March when they foolishly trusted Trump's consigliere William Barr to be telling the truth about the damning findings of the Mueller report. If they blow it again following Mueller's testimony tomorrow (for example, reducing it to "partisan bickering"), you'd have a hard time convincing us they're not "the enemy of the people."They essentially transmitted to the public — especially in all-important headlines and cable-news bulletins — what President Trump desperately wanted as the takeaway: No collusion; no obstruction.
The soul of our country and its democracy are at stake every day. Figure that out -- or don't, to your everlasting shame and peril.
