Partial,hasty,incomplete and flawed

Does journalsim still hold the executive accountable? An essay qusetion possibly and the likes of Nick Davies may disagree but Alan Rushbridger recounts a meeting that he went to

A few months ago I attended a select off-the-record gathering of M.P.s, judges, spies and civil servants to discuss the lessons of the Iraq war. Actually, the meeting was more narrowly focused on the Hutton report into the BBC's infamous coverage of one aspect of the war. The distinguished participants around the table owned up to failure--a failure to hold the executive accountable, to operate as proper checks and balances. The only people who had done their duty (said the spooks and the judges and the mandarins) were the media. They had made mistakes, certainly, but they had got something out into open which deserved to be.

Yes it was the case that journalism failed in the initial run up to the Gulf war(as did Parliament) but it has pulled no punches since and has scrutinised not only Iraq but the general war against terror

So according to Alan

Let's advertise the fact that journalism is a partial, hasty, incomplete and flawed business. The readers know it. They might trust us more, not less, if we owned up.