Dangerous liaisons?: two dalliances between government and media

Two noteworthy instances of supposed government cooption of broadsheet journalists in recent days. First, the Independent was caught on adopting more than the gist of a government press notice on the EU Reform Treaty on its Thursday front page '10 myths about the EU treaty' (on which, hear Damian Chalmers and others at the LSE on this Thursday). It has since come out fighting.

Secondly, a soon to be published narrative on the failings of the UK media to challenge received wisdoms on global problems is to highlight the role of a former Observer political editor in the preparation of the 'dodgy dossier' that formed part of the Government's strategy to justify the moves towards war in Iraq (1,2). This purported role has been denied by the journalist in question.