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Never let it be said that the media does not take itself seriously enough.

In a story tipped to us by Romenesko, Bill Keller, executive editor of the New York Times, gave a little speechery at the University of Michigan on Monday about reporting the Iraq war. Keller touches on all the expected topics, from the media's role in the buildup to the war, the timing of the domestic wiretapping expose and the perils of reporting from a war zone. No word on whether Keller mentioned Judith Miller and Ahmed Chalabi making up that whole WMD thing.

But the highlight of the speech came when he described how awful Times correspondents would feel if situations in Iraq spiraled out of control. How awful would your correspondents feel, Bill?

"I expect if Iraq collapses, the correspondents of the New York Times will feel the tragedy more viscerally, more personally, than most of the policy makers who got us there."


Take that, policy makers! You wish you could feel the tragedy like only the Times newsroom can. Well, and the Iraqi people.

'Media let country down' [The Ann Arbor News]
Keller: News media failed to do its job before Iraq invasion [Romenesko]