The Salt Lake Tribune -- Based on a True Story: The Made-for-TV Version of Military Reality Here are Cokie and Steve Roberts (note who gets top billing) with some more of the "you can't trust the Pentagon" line.

What the Pentagon wants the public to see of the war might be based on a true story, but it won't be the whole story, reported by independent journalists [i.e. those anointed by the broadcast networks, the NYTimes or the Washington Post] who don't have to clear their copy with the military brass. Bruckheimer is no Brokaw. He will produce a made-for-TV version of reality.

It's just entertainment, you might say. Everybody knows that, so calm down. If you want straight information, watch the news, not prime time.

What is the difference between having to clear one's copy with the Military Brass or the NYTimes editors or Dan Rather? You don't get the whole story either way. If you want the whole story watch the news, then watch the news on Fox News Channel, then watch the Pentagon briefings, then read Instapundit and the war bloggers linked there. Get all the information you can and make up your own mind about what you believe. Be aware that every source is biased, especially the ones who trumpet their independence and pout the most.

The truth is out there, but you have to dig for it, and over time, you develop a sense for how different sources lean, how they shape the news, and whom you trust and why. Never stop being skeptical and never, never entrust your responsibility as a citizen, that of making up your own mind, to anybody else.