Richard Armitage on the problem of national security and the press

Question: Does the media have too much say in matters of national security?

Armitage:    No.  What has too much say is a newspaper like the New York Times, the Washington Post, notwithstanding whatever their biases.  They have an actually small readership.  And a newspaper like the former ___________ has a much larger readership.  And if you look at their reporting . . .  For instance, all during the Iraq war, you’ll find they did very good – very cogent and very critical.  But we give too much credence to very lightly read newspapers.  The readership of the New York Times and the Washington Post is not a million combined.  But if . . .  I don’t think . . .  In fact if I read things correctly, most Americans now are getting their news online, or unfortunately from the Stewart show . . . “The Daily Show” which, I must say, seems to find a seam and find the vulnerability of whatever they go after.  I enjoy it enormously, but I’m not sure it’s a real good phenomenon in the long run.