CNN chief claims US media 'censored' war

Rena Golden, executive vice-president and general manager of CNN International:

Anyone who claims the US media didn’t censor itself [during the Afghan campaign] is kidding you. It wasn’t a matter of government pressure but a reluctance to criticise anything in a war that was obviously supported by the vast majority of the people...And this isn’t just a CNN issue - every journalist who was in any way involved in 9/11 is partly responsible.

Dan Rather, if you recall, put it a bit less elegantly: "you know there was a time in South Africa that people would put flaming tyres around people's necks if they dissented. And in some ways the fear is that you will be necklaced here, you will have a flaming tyre of lack of patriotism put around your neck...Now it is that fear that keeps journalists from asking the toughest of the tough questions."

Ya mean journalists internalize the demands of power, which in turn leads to a form of self-censorship? And that significantly influences media content?! Wow. I've never heard anyone make that argument before. What a shocker.