Downing Street Memo: The Story that Wouldn't Die!

This is a pretty exciting Salon piece on how the American media has handled the a minutes of a meeting in which the head of British Intelligence told Prime Minister Blair that Bush had already decided on war, and was then just looking for justification. They've handled it by completely ignoring the story. Nevertheless, there are lots of people out there starting to demand that the press do their job, from NPR to CNN.

Yet despite the news peg, the mainstream media demonstrated a breathtaking lack of interest. According to TVEyes, an around-the-clock monitoring service, between May 1 and June 6 the story received approximately 20 mentions on CNN, Fox News, MSNBC, ABC, CBS, NBC and PBS combined. (With Blair's arrival in Washington Tuesday, there was a slight spike in mentions but still very little reporting of substance.) By contrast, during the same five-week period, the same outlets found time to mention 263 times the tabloid controversy that erupted when a photograph showing Saddam Hussein in his underwear was leaked to the British press.

I know that doesn't sound exciting, but the piece has lots of info on how action on the part of news consumers is starting to turn the tide. We just need to keep it up.