How a Misguided War Led to a Powerful Nonprofit Partnership

[Commentary] A decade ago, America was hurtling toward an ill-conceived war in Iraq, justified by false claims that Saddam Hussein maintained weapons of mass destruction and that his regime had ties to Al Qaeda. The misguided war in Iraq was first and foremost a folly of American policy makers. But it was also a failure of American journalism.

The sad fact is that most major news organizations reported the buildup toward war without adequate skepticism or scrutiny. But the nonprofit press wasn’t taken in by the Bush administration’s marketing and manipulations. Even as most of the journalism world struggles to be heard, the nonprofits are having more influence than ever as they collaborate to raise vital issues like war and peace and wealth and poverty in ways that reflect the public interest. The reinvigoration of the progressive press got its start when magazines like The Nation, The American Prospect and Mother Jones questioned accounts of weapons inspectors that called the administration’s assertions into question. And independent nonprofit broadcasters like Democracy Now, Free Speech TV, and Link TV, gave voice to the widespread opposition of political leaders in most nations and millions of protesters in the streets of America and around the world.

[Stehle is executive director of Media Impact Funders]