May
28 Brokaw Defends Media in Run Up to War

Tom Brokaw defended the press corps in the run up to the war in Iraq, saying, "This president was determined to go to war, and it was more theology than anything else, and that is pretty hard to deal with."

Brokaw appeared on "NBC Nightly News" to talk with Brian Williams about Scott McClellan's characterization of the media as "complicit enablers" for not taking a more hardened look at the Bush administration's rationale for going to war.

"It needs to be viewed in the context of that time," Brokaw said.

He said that "a lot of what was going on then was unknowable." "The CIA insisted he has weapons of mass destruction."

"The White House has an unbelievable ability to control the flow of information at any time, but especially during the time they are preparing to go to war," Brokaw said.

"There is the fog of war, Brian, and there's also the fog of covering war."

Katie Couric, however, had a slightly different take. Appearing on "Today" to announce a joint, three-network effort to support cancer research, she said, "There was such a significant march to war and people who questioned it very early on, and really as the war progressed, were considered unpatriotic. And I think it did affect the way, the level of aggressiveness that was exercised by the media. I really do."

Meanwhile, David Gregory defended the White House press corps in an appearance on "Hardball."