These are not excuses, but simply an effort to explain—however feebly—what much of the press was thinking as the Iraq War started and progressed. It must be noted that while there was wide press failure in these times, some reporters and outlets stood firm with investigative reporting that called the entire rationale for war into question. They faced tough criticism at the time, and they deserve our unmitigated appreciation.

The problems with the press leading up to and during the early years of the Iraq War were also fueled by the changing economics of the American media landscape. The business models that had sustained journalism—primarily print journalism, but also electronic media—began to crack under the stress of new technology. At the time of the Iraq War, news outlets that had already been contending with shrinking revenues, job layoffs, and general uncertainty now faced the challenges posed by the internet. The rate at which this digital revolution has upended the model of journalism cannot be overstated. And as journalistic operations were consolidated into large corporations, reporters increasingly felt the pressure not to pursue unpopular story lines that might incur the wrath of the administration and thus harm the bottom line and shareholder value.

The technological challenges to a sustainable business model for journalism have only grown since the early years of this century. There is a lot of good, detailed scholarship on this subject, but suffice it to say that all sectors of the media have been hit hard. We have seen how online advertising has proven elusive and disappointing, and efforts such as paywalls have not proven generally effective, as consumers can readily find news online for free. Newspapers in particular have suffered. Many of the reasons that people had for maintaining their subscriptions to a paper—to check the weather and stock quotes, to get box scores and read about their favorite teams, to get a sense of the big headlines—can now be satisfied elsewhere, instantaneously, and also, of course, for free. Meanwhile, cash cows like classified advertisements, which used to generate billions of dollars in annual revenue for newspapers, have largely dried up thanks to sites like Craigslist. And if this environment weren’t hard enough, the rise of social media as a primary news source has put further pressure on bottom lines. All these trends are important and worthy of study by those who understand the world of business far better than I do. But most importantly, our evolving media landscape has made it more difficult for television-news networks and newspapers to have the resources to employ editors and reporters. And that has had a seismic effect on our democracy.

Simply put, we have more people talking about news and less original reporting. Whether on television or online, there is no shortage of analysis. But analysis is only as good as the information that supports it. The deep cuts to newsrooms in print and electronic media have resulted in far fewer reporters waking up each morning deciding what story they will chase. There is less investigative reporting and international coverage. At the height of CBS News, we had around 20 foreign and domestic bureaus robustly staffed. Most of those have withered or long since been shuttered. What has gotten far less attention but has perhaps been the greatest loss to our democracy is the decimation that has come to local newspapers. These were always the engines that powered much of American journalism, as great local reporting would bubble up to the national newspapers and television. Local newspapers also provided a check on local and state governments, reporting on mayors, city councils, school boards, and statehouses. This is where much of the governing of the United States takes place, but a lot of it now occurs with little or no coverage. It is as if public meetings are happening behind closed doors. And with no coverage, no one is keeping the people who work for us—on those school boards or city councils—accountable.