Massing begins by comparing the fate of Judith Miller to that of Andersen Cooper of CNN, who "emerged during Hurricane Katrina as a tribune for the dispossessed and a scourge of do-nothing officials."

Making Up for Mistakes
Massing asserts reporting on Hurricane Katrina began in some way to make up for the mistakes made by journalists in the run-up to the war on Iraq.

The kind of reporting that resumed because of Katrina has continued, and Massing says that “In recent weeks, journalists have been asking more pointed questions at press conferences, attempting to investigate cronyism and corruption in the White House and Congress, and doing more to document the plight of people without jobs or a place to live.”

Will Change Endure?
Massing asks: "Will such changes prove lasting?" He outlines a number of problems that he feels “keep the press from fulfilling its responsibilities to serve as a witness to injustice and a watchdog over the powerful.”

Problems for Journalists
These include: the political climate journalists are currently working in, the increasing isolation of journalists from the poor and their plight, an exaggerated desire for 'balance' and an over-reliance on 'access'.

The author refers to Tom Fenton's book 'Bad News: The Decline of Reporting, The Business of News and the Danger to Us All', which illustrated how there are major stories almost unreported in the US media, such as the links between big oil companies and the White House and the influence of Saudi money on US policies in the Middle East. 

Massing also highlights the "deep-seated fear that many US journalists have of being accused of being anti-American, of not supporting the troops in the field. These subjects remain off-limits."

Conclusion
Massing's conclusion is that "Of all the internal problems confronting the press, the reluctance to venture into politically sensitive matters, to report disturbing truths that might unsettle and provoke, remains by far the most troubling."

He does, however, offer a glimmer of hope when he suggests that given the more agressive news stories that have appeared as a result of Katrina, "if the situation in Iraq were further to unravel, or if President Bush were to become more unpopular, the boundaries of the acceptable might expand further."

Source: The New York Review of Books