BETTER LATE THAN NEVER?

Just fix it.

President Bush's interviews on Monday with local and regional news outlets — bypassing the major national networks — are, in the words of CBS reporter John Roberts, the "equivalent of a declaration of war aimed at the national media."

ABC's Peter Jennings said Mr. Bush "is not the first President to be unhappy with the coverage of America at war."

Another such president, it seems, is the president of Jennings' own news division, David Westin.

Westin announced in a memo to ABC employees that he's "been troubled for some time about the reporting... on the situation in Iraq. We often seem to be captive to the individual dramatic incident — and... subject to one that comes with great video."

He says ABC will now try to tell the rest of the story.