Channel 4 News is doing an excellent job of reporting the invasion of Iraq, and John Snow’s interview [video] (possibly too mild a term) of ex-ambassador Paul Bremner yesterday was marvelous. John Snow asked how the US could complain about the treatment of POWs when its own recent record was so poor. The interviewee looked like a flustered idiot. It’s all down to uniforms, apparently.
It looks as if the “my country right or wrong” lot aren’t happy about this. How dare a journalist be impolite to our allies! Criticism of our allies is aiding our enemies!
Well, frankly, that’s utter bollocks.
British soldiers are at war. We are, however, still a democracy, and quite frankly, the press have a duty to question the motives and methods of “our” own side, to make sure we are behaving properly. Blogs and campaign websites are all very well, but most people can’t get a chance to question those running the war directly. We can easily get all the official press releases we want, but we depend on the few journalists with courage to act on our behalf. I want journalists to be passionate, and to ask difficult questions, and there aren’t many issues more important than this.
