As journalists, lawyers and peace activists – yet again – pore over the details of the Iraq invasion, isn’t it time to consider what role the media played in the conflict? Were reporters duped by Tony Blair’s “dodgy dossier”? And have they fairly reported the chaos and slow recovery of Iraq since then?
Our Media Inquiry will be asking these questions and looking at how the lessons of Iraq will affect the reporting of future conflicts.
In this special event we will be hearing from key “witnesses” from the world of journalism to find out what happened in newsrooms and if there are lessons to be learnt for the future.
Just like the Chilcot inquiry, this isn’t a trial. But we would like some answers.
Moderator: Paddy O’Connell, presenter of Broadcasting House
Participants: Nick Davies, author of Flat Earth News, in which he examined falsehood and distortion in the media; Patrick Cockburn Middle East correspondent for the Independent, who has reported extensively on Iraq, and journalist and author David Rose; Kevin Marsh, editor of the BBC College of Journalism and former editor of BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.
Picture credit: Lewishamdreamer, via Flickr
