Miles, I think with the media's late 1960s to present history, the burden of proof needs to be completely on them, when it comes to running what appeared to be a flagrant exploitation of dead soldiers for their own political gain, as it appeared to my eyes. They need to PROVE to me that they are not just using dead soldiers to sell news time/promote an agenda.

I have no idea when I quit trusting the media, but I do not trust them. (Dan Rather faked memo, exploding pickup trucks, Hiring terrorists as "news sources", retouching AP photos, operational pause=QUAGMIRE!, global warming hype, Everything is Bush/Rove's fault, etc...)

The problem isn't that the press is divorced from reality/lacks skill/is pushing an agenda, the problem is that Joe Six Pack perceives that they are and doesn't trust them, so when they DO run an accurate news item which reveals an embarrassing truth, the political commentators on both sides of the political aisle are able to make it "un-happen."

As Sargent points out, at least indirectly, is that the conditions are right for various parties to do a post-Versailles German "Stabbed in the Back" as an entity, instead of learning from our mistakes through an honest assessment. And, God forbid we fail to learn from this.