ABSTRACT
Much criticism of the media is invalidated and ineffective because it is so often driven by the biased anger of self-interest. In his angry book chronicling his experience as Jimmy Carter's press secretary, Jody Powell compared the attitude of the free media to that of the embattled politician: Both have a tendency to become overly defensive when under attack. Journalists in Teheran knew that the Canadian embassy was hiding American hostages, never reporting it until after they were freed. The dramatic Israeli Entebbe rescue was not reported until after it was over, although several reporters knew about it. Most of the information classified as secret and top secret by the government needs no such restriction. Government officials who plead national security to reporters are not very convincing. The Janus-faced gambit was first unmasked in an effort to embarrass the United States by Iranian officials.
