An oldie but goodie: Reagan: Media Myth and Reality

[OmahaBlueDog]

Source: Fairness & Accuracy In Reporting

[snip]

The Reagan administration's friendly policy towards Saddam
Hussein was also a neglected media topic. During the Reagan
years, the U.S. offered significant support to Iraq, including
weapons components, military intelligence, and even some of
the ingredients for manufacturing biological weapons like
anthrax (Newsweek , 9/23/02).

[snip]

But a search of major U.S. newspapers in the Nexis news
database turns up the phrase "death squad" only five
times in connection with Reagan in the days following his
death--twice in commentaries (Philadelphia Inquirer , 6/6/04;
Chicago Tribune , 6/8/04) and twice in letters to the editor
(San Francisco Chronicle , 6/8/04; L.A. Times , 6/8/04). Only
one news article found in the search (L.A. Times , 6/6/04)
considered the death squads an important enough part of
Reagan's legacy to be worth mentioning. The three broadcast
networks, CNN and Fox didn't mention death squads at all,
according to Nexis. Nor were any references found in the
transcripts of the broadcast networks to the fact that
Reagan's policy of supporting Islamicist insurgents against
the Soviet-backed government of Afghanistan led to the rise of
the Taliban and Al-Qaeda.

[snip]

The Iran-Contra scandal, which loomed too large to ignore, was
often written off by journalists. "As we look back today,
it's like just a speck in the eight years of his
presidency," explained CNN 's Judy Woodruff (6/7/04).
Meet the Press host Tim Russert (6/6/04) showed a clip of
Reagan's famous response to the scandal, in which he stated,
"A few months ago, I told the American people I did not
trade arms for hostages. My heart and my best intentions still
tell me that's true. But the facts and the evidence tell me it
is not." Russert described this tortured evasion of
culpability as "very believable."

More at: http://www.fair.org/index.php?page=1832