Last week, as journalists slipped away for the holiday weekend, a lonely blogger sat down to write a rather alarming post. It suggested that the Office of the Vice President had issued “instructions” to a group of right wing think tanks and media outlets, asking them to mount an anti-Iran PR offensive after Labor Day, with the goal of building support for U.S. military action.
The blogger’s source? A friend of a friend.
At first blush, it seems like just the sort of wild speculation that gives bloggers a bad name.
Except Barnett Rubin is not your typical blogger. He’s a New York University professor and a widely-respected Afghanistan expert. He’s been a UN advisor on the country, and a fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations. Resumes don’t get much more blue blooded.
I emailed Professor Rubin to ask if he’d been contacted by many journalists interested in running down the rumor. As it turns out, not so much:
Let’s say I have not been overwhelmed with the volume. No one has contacted me from the NYT, WP, WSJ, or FT. No wire services.
The New Yorker’s George Packer commented on the post at his blog. Besides Packer and two bloggers, Barnett says that only two journalists at “major outlets” called to talk—a magazine investigative reporter, and a newspaper editorialist.
If there is a coordinated Iran media strategy in the works, it may be that the nation’s major national security reporters already heard about it elsewhere. And of course, there may be nothing to the rumor.
But it seems like we should ask.
Clint Hendler is the managing editor of Mother Jones, and a former deputy editor of CJR.