TV news takes heat for relying on former defense officials as Afghanistan pundits

David Shuster, a former MSNBC anchor and reporter who led Fox News’s coverage of the launch of U.S. combat operations in Afghanistan in 2001, made a similar point. “Cable channels tend to have short memories,” he said. “They don’t remember some of the mistakes these people made along the way, and their audience certainly doesn’t remember. So, better to put on a recognizable face than someone who might not be associated with a bad policy or a mistake.”