Paraphrasing.

Hugh Hewitt interviewed ABC’s Whitehouse correspondent Terry Moran yesterday on his afternoon radio program. The conversation was the result of a press conference where Whitehouse spokesman Scott McClellan had some recommendations for actions Newsweek might take to mitigate the damage their Koran-flushing story has done. The Whitehouse press corps was a bit peeved. Radio Blogger, the blog run by Hugh’s producer Duane, has the transcript of the interview. Hugh quoted in-country milblogger Major K to Moran:

HH: Let me ask you something. Major K, a major in the Army who is reporting from Iraq on his blog all the time says, (“A)ll this being said, it is no small wonder that a gulf has opened between journalists and the general public. I think even the most John Q. Sixpacks know when they are being fed a line of blank blank blank. My brother called me a journalist once during a conversation about this blog. I was offended.(“) That is a general impression among the American military about the media, Terry. Where does that come from?

Moran’s reply was refreshingly honest:

TM: It comes from, I think, a huge gulf of misunderstanding, for which I lay plenty of blame on the media itself. There is, Hugh, I agree with you, a deep anti-military bias in the media. One that begins from the premise that the military must be lying, and that American projection of power around the world must be wrong. I think that that is a hangover from Vietnam, and I think it’s very dangerous. That’s different from the media doing it’s job of challenging the exercise of power without fear or favor.

What Moran and the rest of the MSM isn’t grasping, I think, can be illustrated by paraphrasing one sentence from Moran’s response:

“One begins from the premise that the MSM must be lying, and the media’s projection of power around the world must be wrong.”

The media got to hate the military because, I believe, they were offended by being lied to by the government over Vietnam. Moran has that right. But the public has gotten to hate the media because we’re offended by being lied to about damned near everything in their effort to “change the world!!” Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.