An interesting article from Greg Mitchell of Editor and Publisher discussing the US media's coverage of the results released by the independent 9/11 Commission concerning the Bush administration's record on securing America. The author says "you would think" this story "would deserve banner headlines" particularly in light of the fact that the report reveals that the government has not performed well.

Mitchell characterises the media's response to the release of the report as "underwhelming" and adds "Does anyone know, for example, that the ... commission ... gave the Bush administration ... a "D" on its efforts to secure WMD worldwide, calling this "the greatest threat" to America's security?"

Editor and Publisher performed a survey of US newspapers' coverage of the issue on the day after the report was made public. Out of 40 newspapers consulted, only six featured the report on their front page. For those papers that carried the bulk of their coverage on the story on the day of the report's release, most (including The New York Times) did not put it on the front page.

Political reporter Tom Edsall of The Washington Post stated he was: "surprised to see ... that ... The New York Times, played the story inside. Insofar as the press drives a story, that will diminish public reaction ... The NYT has a wider national distribution than the Post. We gave the story top of the front page story, which I think is the correct play."

Mitchell concludes by saying that it was a mistake for newspapers to treat this story "as just another issue of-the-day." He added "The commissioners asked if maybe we need another wake-up call. Apparently, the answer is: yes."

Source: Editor and Publisher