When Bush at long last went on record saying there was "no evidence that [Saddam] Hussein was involved with the September 11th" attacks, it seemed like a big story.
Of the top US newspapers, however, only the Chicago Tribune and the Los Angeles Times put the story on the front page, Editor & Publisher reports. After declaring last week that "the media had failed in its duty to correct the public misperception," E&P reports, "an analysis of most major American newspapers found the story either buried deep within the paper -- or completely absent." For example, USA Today put the story on page 16; the New York Times, page 22; and the Washington Post, page 18. The Wall Street Journal and the New York Post ran no story on Bush's statement. "The story was even more dramatic because Bush's remarks came on the heels of an assertion to the contrary made by Vice President Dick Cheney Sunday on NBC's 'Meet the Press,'" E&P writes.