You may have heard the “big” news today: NBC is now calling the situation in Iraq a “civil war.” This is apparently big news. Of course, not everyone is doing so. The Washington Post isn’t calling it a civil war, for example. The reason they’re not? They say it’s because the Iraqi gov’t doesn’t use the term.

NBC said more or less the same thing this morning when they announced their change in policy, claiming that the White House’s reluctance to call it a civil war was a key reason they hesitated to make the change. I get that, but at the same time, I’m confused why it matters.

At some point we’ve become a press and a society that requires the government stamp on things to make them “true” or “real.” I’m not really sure why this is, as we should be able to look at something and call it what it is. If a news organization feels like the situation in Iraq has become a civil war, why does it matter that the White House doesn’t endorse that view?

It’s just weird to me. I don’t need them to simply repeat what the White House says, but to provide an intelligent analysis and reporting on top of whatever the government is saying. Highlighting meaningful contradictions between official policy/pronouncements and what their own reporting is saying is pretty much their core function, isn’t it?

Of course, I think it’s telling that the only two articles on MSNBC.com (the web site for the Today Show and NBC News, not just MSNBC) about this new policy from NBC are from Reuters. After all, how much original reporting actually happens in ABC, NBC, or CBS these days?

Update: This isn’t to say that there isn’t something worth debating in whether it’s a civil war or not. More on the subtleties of the debate at TPM. For what it’s worth, I’m with Hilzoy at Obsidian Wings: This is a civil war, albeit an unconventional one.

I linked to a video yesterday that described the level of violence in Iraq. Atrios and Hilzoy both link to this video from CNN where reporter Michael Ware describes what he’s seeing in Baghdad and why there’s no choice but to call it a civil war.

He doesn’t mince words, does he?