What makes that TV show more credible than what the press reported?

>Last night I watched a TV show titled "Panama - the deception". It was about government and press (mainly U.S., but others too) statements and coverage during that war.
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>I must say that, until seeing it, I personally had always viewed the Panama "war" as a small action where U.S. forces left a near-by base and surrounded Noriega and waited for him to cave to ultra-loud music. In other words, I had understood exactly what it was desired that I understand by 'the powers that be'.
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>I had NO idea at all that there were some 25 targets across several cities and towns and that somewhere between 2,500 - 4,000 Panamanians were killed and that over 20,000 were left homeless because their homes were deliberately burned (whole city blocks in the capital). I had no idea that the U.S. military have excavated and filled mass graves around the country. I had no idea that thousands were arrested and detained for months (some over a year) without representation of any kind, mostly on the say-so of the puppet leadership that was installed by the U.S. BEFORE the military fired its first shot.
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>All in all it served to remind me that, especially when it comes to war, neither governments nor the press can be trusted. The documentary did point out that the press was very very tightly constrained by the military (which was totally unknown at the time by viewers/readers like me), much as we later witnessed in the Gulf War.
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>Makes one wonder what the REAL story is behind Iraq (the story leading to the action in Panama was very "interesting", to be sure) and what calamities are in store for the people of Iraq.