Does the Right Know Jack?

What drove the media's botching of the mine disaster? Boston Globe columnist Joan Vennochi has a theory:

"Everyone wanted a miracle, from the families of the trapped miners, to the mine company owners, to cable TV. When this miracle turned into a disaster, newspapers paid the price.

It is hard to read the cruelly incorrect stories from Sago, W. Va., that were published in many Wednesday morning newspapers, including some early editions of the Globe, and not entertain grim thoughts about the challenge faced by print media.

"The old journalistic adage, get it first but first get it right, is both an albatross and a savior for modern newspapers. The struggle to keep up with the rush to news makes contemplative journalism a marketer's nightmare. On the other hand, mistakes, no matter how honestly made, hurt the old-line print media more than they hurt cable TV or online journalism.

"The new media can correct course in real time. The old media's mistakes are cruel jokes and collector's items that greatly undercut credibility."

The following story could be headlined "Bubble? What bubble?"

"President Bush yesterday sought to counter press reports of insularity by soliciting advice on Iraq from a dozen former secretaries of state and defense from Democratic and Republican administrations," says the Washington Times .

" 'Not everybody around this table [agrees] with my decision to go into Iraq,' Mr. Bush said in the Roosevelt Room at the White House. 'But these are good solid Americans who understand that we've got to succeed now that we're there.' . . .

"Participants in the unusual meeting included representatives of every administration in the past 45 years, starting with Robert S. McNamara, who was defense secretary during the Vietnam war under Presidents Kennedy and Johnson. Also present was Madeleine K. Albright, who was secretary of state under President Clinton."

What's next: a Cindy Sheehan sit-down?

Was a prominent foreign correspondent overheard by NSA surveillance? I have no clue, but Josh Marshall , picking up on a scoop by Americablog , wonders. He notes that NBC deleted the following from its transcript of Andrea Mitchell's interview with NYT reporter and author James Risen:

"MITCHELL: Do you have any information about reporters being swept up in this net?