Lt. Col. Tim Ryan has written a lengthy piece criticizing the media coverage in Iraq that has attracted a lot of attention. A rejoinder.
Dear Lt. Col. Ryan,
Thank you for your service in Iraq. I wish you the best, and hope you are home soon. However. A few bones to pick with your recent article.
I am sorry you think the media is “aiding and abetting the enemy.” The reporters I know are working hard, risking their lives, to bring the truth to the American public. I certainly wish the news out of Iraq could be more positive. And yes, some of your complaints are very familiar, about the media “highlighting the negative.” Ten thousand planes can land safely; it’s only when the jet crashes do the reporters show up. That’s just how journalism works. To some extent, that can give a distorted view of neighborhoods and everyday life, and I agree that balancing the two is a challenge for journalists.
You write that “In Fallujah, the enemy death toll has exceeded 1,500.” Forgive me for being skeptical. But I’m curious how much confidence you have in that figure. My understanding is that enemy kill totals are little more than best guesses by commanders on the ground. Yet when the Times’ Dexter Filkins toured Fallujah, he found
little evidence of dead insurgents in the streets and warrens where some of the most intense combat took place … The absence of insurgent bodies in Falluja has remained an enduring mystery. Roaming American patrols found few on Sunday in their sweeps of the devastated landscape where the rebels chose to make their last stand, the southern Falluja neighborhood called Shuhada by the Iraqis and Queens by the American troops.
In any case, you write that, “As soon as there was nothing negative to report about Fallujah, the media shifted its focus to other parts of the country. “
Well, yeah. Doesn’t that have something to do with how the insurgents raided police stations in Mosul, killing Iraqi police officers and burning the governor’s house to the ground? You continue,
More recently, a major news agency’s website lead read: “Suicide Bomber Kills Six in Baghdad” and “Seven Marines Die in Iraq Clashes.” True, yes. Comprehensive, no. Did the author of this article bother to mention that Coalition troops killed 50 or so terrorists while incurring those seven losses? Of course not.
Despite searches on Google News and Nexis, I’ve been unable to find any story headlines, “Seven Marines Die in Iraq Clashes.” I find it hard to believe that any reporter would knowingly leave this detail out and would like to see a citation.
Why aren’t papers leading with items like, “Coalition Crushes Remaining Pockets of Insurgents”? Hmm. Well, I’ve a give you a clue: In the three days since your article was published in the World Tribune Jan. 18, insurgents have detonated five truck bombs across Baghdad, released an audio tape warning of holy war and beheaded an Iraqi soldier in broad daylight. Even as I write this, CNN just reported an ambulance plowed into a wedding party and exploded.
So unfortunately, I don’t think an article headlined, “Coalition Crushes Remaining Pockets of Insurgents” would be particularly accurate. Do you?
You continue,
What did the the media show or tell us about Margaret Hassoon, the director of C.A.R.E. in Iraq and an Iraqi citizen, who was kidnapped, brutally tortured and left disemboweled on a street in Fallujah?
First off, the woman’s name is Margaret Hassan. Second, the mutilated body found on the streets of Fallujah was not Hassan’s, as was reported Dec. 1. Her remains still have not been recovered. If you’re going to mention the poor woman, at least get her name right.
Alas, your shoddy attempt at journalism continues:
What the media didn’t show or write about [in Najaf] were the two hundred-plus headless bodies found in the main mosque there, or the body that was put into a bread oven and baked.
I’ll let Alex Berenson, the New York Times reporter who was embedded with the Marines and covered the battle of Najaf from start to finish, handle this one:
The massacre of hundreds of women and children inside a sacred Muslim shrine would have been front-page news worldwide for days. We didn’t report it because it never happened. There were almost no women and children, living or dead, anywhere near the shrine by the time the battle ended. We did get — and write about — reports that Sadr’s guys had tortured and killed a handful of Iraqi police officers and other people unfortunate enough to run afoul of the Mahdi Army.
Berenson, incidentally, was taken captive and almost killed by the Mahdi Army. Your words are an insult to him and all the other reporters who risked their lives covering the battle.
Continuing…
Recently, when a Coalition spokesman tried to let TV networks in on opening moves in the Fallujah operation, they misconstrued the events for something they were not and then blamed the military for their gullibility. CNN recently aired a “special report” in which the cable network accused the military of lying to it and others about the beginning of the Fallujah operation. The incident referred to took place in October when a Marine public affairs officer called media representatives and told them that an operation was about to begin. Reporters rushed to the outskirts of Fallujah to see what they assumed was going to be the beginning of the main attack on the city. As it turned out, what they saw were tactical “feints” designed to confuse the enemy about the timing of the main attack, then planned to take place weeks later.
Once the network realized that major combat operations wouldn’t start for several more weeks, CNN alleged that the Marines had used them as a tool for their deception operation. Now, they say they want answers from the military and the administration on the matter. The reality appears to be that in their zeal to scoop their competition, CNN and others took the information they were given and turned it into what they wanted it to be. Did the military lie to the media: no. It is specifically against regulations to provide misinformation to the press. However, did the military planners anticipate that reporters would take the ball and run with it, adding to the overall deception plan? Possibly. Is that unprecedented or illegal? Of course not.
Here’s what Lt. Col. Lyle Gilbert of the 1st Marine Expeditionary Unit told CNN Oct. 14: “The troops crossed the line of departure. It’s been a pretty uncomfortable time. We have two battalions out there in maneuver right now dealing with the anti-Iraqi forces and achieving the mission of restoring security and stability to this area. It’s going to be a long night.”
Of course, the attack didn’t come until weeks later. The LA Times broke this story Dec. 1. Here’s CNN’s story, which never uses the word “lie.” It does quote a Pentagon spokesman as saying, “Gilbert’s remarks were ‘technically true but misleading.’ It was an attempt to get CNN ‘to report something not true,’ the official said.”
I’ll leave it to readers to decide whether Gilbert’s words constitute “misinformation” … perhaps they can parse the meaning of “is” at the same time.
You are right about one thing, though: as long as American soldiers are getting killed nearly every day, we’re not going to be giving much coverage to the opening of multimillion dollar sewage projects.
American lives are worth more than Iraqi shit.
P.S. I’m a 32-year-old MSM reporter. These opinions are just my own. I’ve never been to Iraq, but have written about it from the comfort of my desk. Here’s some of what I wrote about Fallujah; also here.
P.P.S. I use the term “insurgents” when the enemy attacks U.S. soldiers. I have no problem calling them “terrorists” when they attack civilians. Hell, when I reported about Saudi authorities finding Paul Johnson’s severed head in a freezer we called ’em “sickos” in a headline. And that WAS sick. Ugh. Anyway, if anyone has a more appropriate term than “insurgents,” feel free to suggest it.
P.P.S. Inspired by the some of the comments here, I had a close look at Chrenkoff’s latest “good news from Iraq” update to see the news the media’s been missing. Hmm. I expected to see a stuff from soldier and Iraqi blogs, but looking at the sources … there are articles from the Cincinnati Enquirer, the Cleveland Plain-Dealer, the LA Times (via the Contra-Conta Times), USA Today, the London Times, the LA Times again (via the Register-Guard), Business Week, the BBC, the Washington Post, the News-Record (link doesn’t work), the Richmond Times-Dispatch, the New York Times, the AP, the Asbury-Park Press, the Grand-Rapids Press, and the AP via CNN.
So tell me — what’s that complaint again?
P.P.P.S. – Hell, there’s even been articles about Iraqi sewage projects. It’s kind of interesting, actually. Other stories by the same reporter, Arkansas Democrat-Gazette staff writer Amy Schlesing, can be found here.
But this is horrible — terrorists bombed a street celebration of a sewer project in Baghdad Oct. 1, killing 41 civilians, including 35 children.
Jeffrey,
Would it be that that were so. I actually work Sundays and had to head to Rockland County to interview family of one of three FDNY firefighters killed in the line of duty yesterday. John Bellew leaves behind a wife and four kids aged six to five months. Ugh.
The Times used the 14,000 figure again today; I actually found the link to the story on one of the sites you mentioned, although he uses different figures.
I will admit I’m not an expert on antiquities and don’t know much about McGeough. I did read a little about him and think you might be correct in your assessment about his commentary, though. I’m a big fan of Burns’, obviously.
It’s worth noting that the Times did step away, somewhat, from the 170,000 figure in a story written just a few days later. Also, the Orlando Sentinel piece you link to isn’t the full Burns story, which can be found here. He describes Marines scaring off looters but not having the troops for an around-the-clock guard, not looking idly by while chewing Wrigley’s gum. I don’t see it as a “slanderous portrayals of our troops.”
Yes, Burns made an error by not realizing that many of the antiquities had been taken off-site. We all make mistakes, even the best of us. I don’t think you’ve shown that that mistake was ideologically-motivated, at least on Burns’ part. Nor have you shown him incorrectly describing soldiers’ actions.
That said, we all bring our internal view of the world to our work, howevermuch we try to be objective, and I’m sure there are many other stories where reporters’ biases has led them astray.
As I mentioned to in Comment 34, I’m generally excited about how blogs will transform journalism (although I’m not quite sure what form that will take). I think it’s great that the blogosphere let interviewees talk back to the interviewers, and disseminates decentralized knowledge and nformation that otherwise wouldn’t get shared.
(cbaral – I’ll have to respond to you tomorrow – i’m headed for bed!)
Derek, MSM bias is a sum of the parts. What the liberal left does is dissect each individual item to point out plausible alternatives. If there are enough alternative explanations, we can say there is no proof of bias.
Using the old saying “If it looks like a duck, walks like a duck, quacks like a duck – its a duck” a typical leftist would point out that a platypus has a duck like bill therefore there are other things that can look like a duck, that swans waddle like ducks therefore there are other things that can walk like a duck, and that a Macintosh sound system can produce a quack therefore there are other things that sound like ducks. Because there are all these alternative answers I cannot prove that that this waddling, duck billed quacking bird I see in front of me is a duck. To ignore the obvious combination of facts, even when its staring you right in the face, is what makes many conservatives frustrated with arguing with the left.
If the MSM has a preference for negative stories (as you and many others claim), then it must be having a field day revealing the brutality of the Iraqi “resistance” the sordid death culture of Palestinians, or the dysfunctional train-wreck of a society created by the Iranians. But despite the claim that they want negative stories, it seems the MSM are only interested in negative stories that reflect badly on the US.
But there is no bias in this – our lefty continues – the US audience are only interested in what happens to US people. Local always beats global. Hmmm, does this mean the Israel-Palestine issue will no longer be covered because no Americans are involved?
People don’t dissect each and every issue to determine whether or not they trust someone, they judge it instinctively by looking at a person as whole. If a person is known to lie, exaggerate, misrepresent or skew their stories people will instinctively be wary of anything he may say. Alternatively, if someone is known to be a straight shooter, honest in their information and also quick to correct themselves if they find their facts are wrong – don’t people instinctively trust him as a reliable source of news. In all honesty Derek, if the MSM was a real person, which type of person do you think he would he be?
cbaral,
First, a quibble. From what I read on the US Aid site, the coalition is not building new roads or making new schools, although it has been repairing existing ones.
That aside, reconstruction of Iraq is of course an important story … I just don’t think it should be covered through grip-and-grin stage-managed ribbon-cutting ceremonies, which is usually how media handlers would like. The media has been covering the reconstruction; see recent stories here, here, and perhaps most notably here. But you probably won’t see that story on Chrenkoff because it’s not exactly glowing.
You’re right about Chrenkoff’s compilation … I just wonder if, as I mention in Comment 41, there’s not a good reason you’re seeing a 10:1 good news/bad news ratio in the mainstream press.
You “wonder” if “there’s a good reason you’re seeing a 10:1 good news/bad news ratio in the mainstream press”?
Wonder no more. On a day when not a single person died in Iraq due to a terrorist attack (not one bombing, not one mortar attack, not one suicide mission), what did the esteemed press report on?
AP
* Hospital Fire in Iraq Kills 14, Hurts 75
* U.S. Envoy Acknowledges Iraq Election Woes
* Al-Zarqawi Said to Declare ‘Fierce War’
Reuters
* Al Qaeda Ally Declares All-Out War on Iraqi Election
* U.S. Promises ‘Elaborate Security’ for Iraq Vote
NY Times
* U.S. Envoy Tries to Assure Iraqis of Security at Polls
* General Seeking Faster Training of Iraq Soldiers
* As Election Nears, Iraqis Remain Sharply Divided on Its Value
Washington Post
* U.S. Attmpts To Build Trust, Leaders in Iraq
Not ONE! headline – “No attacks in Iraq” – not ONE! story – “Insurgents take the day off” – not ONE!
Derek, if you’re still wondering, there’s no hope for you. We’re watching your profession, Derek, and we don’t like what we see, and we will change it. Your bosses will either change, or they will go the way of the dinosour. Newspaper circulation numbers are plummeting. Major television companies are losing viewership at alarming rates (CNN dropped 63% from 2001 to 2004 inauguaration coverage). How much more gutting of your profession has to occur before you get it? Before someone sees the light?
And if your profession is so obviously devoid of insight about itself, what does that say for its ability to understand and correctly convey stories? To tell the truth, as it were? To see all sides of an issue?
I can’t make it any plainer. If journalism doesn’t open its eyes soon, it will be relegated to the ash heap of history – an artifact of the days when information was still controlled by the elites. Those days are receding fast.
Derek,
The more I have researched the Iraq National Museum story, the more it has become of story of shameless relinquishment of journalistic standards by many of your colleagues. I’m sorry, but I have investigated this story also in French and German and the vitriol and lack of basic reporting is almost impossible to believe.
There were, however, a few journalists who decided to look for the truth. Believe it or not, just FIVE days after the “all gone, Americans stood by” theme began to be played by all the media outlets, each one trying to outdo the other with its “Americans the Barbarians” imagery, there was one lone journalist who actually interviewed the museum director, Donny George:
>By YAROSLAV TROFIMOV
>Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
>BAGHDAD, Iraq — Last week’s looting of the Iraq National Museum, which saw numerous items disappear from a vast collection spanning eight millennia of Mesopotamian history, has provoked world-wide outcry — and criticism of the U.S. military for its failure to protect Iraq’s priceless cultural heritage.
>But, thanks to Iraqi preparations before the war, it seems the worst has been avoided. Donny George, the director-general of restoration at the Iraqi Antiquities Department, Wednesday said his staff had preserved the museum’s most important treasures, including the kings’ graves of Ur and the Assyrian bulls. These objects were hidden in vaults that haven’t been violated by looters.
>”Most of the things were removed. We knew a war was coming, so it was our duty to protect everything,” Mr. George said. “We thought there would be some sort of bombing at the museum. We never thought it could be looted.”
No other media outlet picked up on this. Why? Shoddy journalism? It didn’t fit the master-narrative. Journalists too pissed off the Iraq War had gone smoothly? I don’t know. Any ideas?
For the rest of April and halfway through May the vilification of the Americans showed no respite. Each lede was a gob of spit in the face of the American public.
Then in the middle of May the BBC reported that the antiquities may be “stashed away” and the AP announced that they “may be safe.”
On May 22, Alex Spillius, writing for the Telegraph, acknowledged that the looting story was a “mistake.”
More silence.
Then the shit hit the fan on June 8. All the major publications reported that the 170,000 figure had been an “exaggeration.” David Aaronovitch at the Guardian quipped, “It’s bollocks.”
I’ve read articles from EACH day of that two-month period, in English and French and German. Journalists f*cked up bigtime, Derek. And all along, one guy, Yaroslav Trofimov, had gotten to something much closer to the truth, just five days after the alleged “looting and pillaging under the American’s noses.”
As others have mentioned above, I think you are open listening to our criticism. I know it isn’t easy for you because this is your chosen profession. But as antimedia points out above, you guys have got to change or lose the little audience you have now.
One thing I would say, DO NOT UNDERESTIMATE YOUR READERS.
I wish I could say that the poor reporting around the Iraq National Museum was uncommon, but I can’t. I also watched the savage Bush head-hunting over the summer in the lead-up to the election. I’m a registered Democrat who voted for Bush. The MSM daily attacks on Bush, in the end, didn’t work. Why? We won’t take that shit anymore, Derek.
Oh, I agree about Burns. He’s a reputable reporter and has been consistent — as I stated, even as his mouth was watering for the American Mongols story, he offered measured qualifications, while McGeough turned to pure propaganda.
*
Antimedia, “Insurgents Take Day off Due to Rain” – that’s hilarious!! Sorry we can’t slant the news to fit your opinions, but they’re not even true. A security guard died Sunday when a bomb blew up an election office south of Baghdad. Insurgents also stormed a police station in Ramadi. And today there’s been at least 10 wounded in a car bombing in Baghdad. AFP reports two dead.
It also appears the insurgents are “saving up” for a big attack. Not my opinion, or that of the dastardly liberal press, but Air Force Brig. Gen. Erv Lessel, deputy director of operations in Iraq, who told CNN that “we think it’s a calm before the storm, that they’re unable to sustain the level of attacks that they’ve had, but they’re saving up for something more spectacular in the days proceeding elections and on election day.”
Lionel, I think saying the MSM has a preference for “negative stories” is a simplification. We have a preference for dramatic stories. I think that generally the record of human history is one of steady, slow progress occassionally set back by cataclysms – wars, earthquakes, tsunamis, epidemics, genocide, etc. Progress tends to be slower and less dramatic and sometimes we miss it. But positive news stories about scientific breakthroughs, capture of saddam hussein, etc., tend to be very well-reported.
I’m sorry that you’ve missed all the stories on the beheading of Nick Berg and Kilm Sun-Il or the murder of Margaret Hassan, all of which I was involved in writing. This scoop of mine on an Islamic culture of death was picked up by MSNBC, CNN and the German newspaper Bild. I do agree that Iran hasn’t really been on the media radar screen that much, but
a number of countries are equally fucked upwe could be writing stories about a number of “dysfunctional train-wreck” societies — odd you’re only mentioning one.Derek wrote “You write that “In Fallujah, the enemy death toll has exceeded 1,500.” Forgive me for being skeptical. But I’m curious how much confidence you have in that figure. My understanding is that enemy kill totals are little more than best guesses by commanders on the ground.”
A search on google led me to this entry on CNN “The weeklong assault on the city — 30 miles west of Baghdad — has killed 1,000 to 2,000 insurgents, Marine Lt. Gen. John Sattler said. http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/meast/11/14/iraq.main/
Since youre a huge supporter of the MSM…are you telling me that CNN didn’t verify these figures and blindly reported this? Should I ignore these figures coming from both a marine General and now Tim Ryan? ..Should I assume that CNN engaged in shoddy reporting even as you tell me to respect the MSM and that Dexter ‘s reporting is far more reliable. Two words come to my mind when trying to assess the veracity of the NY Times: Jayson Blair
A quick review of http://www.thegreenside.com . produced this from Dave , a Marine, who emailed this to his dad…should I assume another Marine is lying and to his DAD no less?
“By now the Marines and Soldiers have killed well over a thousand enemy. These were not peasants or rabble. They were reasonably well trained and entirely fanatical.” The “recruiting videos” that we capture contain graphic scenes of beheadings, tortured confessions and insanely violent rhetoric. Even after what we have seen, it is hard to watch them. The enemy celebrates them.
I will write you more the next time I come in about what we have found inside the city. All I can say is that even with everything that I knew and expected from the last nine months, the brutality and fanaticism of the enemy surprised me. The beheadings were even more common place than we thought but so were torture and summary executions. . There are hundreds of tons of munitions and tens of thousands of weapons that our Regiment alone has recovered. The Marines and Soldiers of the Regiment have also found over 400 IEDs already wired and ready to detonate.”
So far much of Tim Ryans stories and complaints about the MSM have been corroborated.
Derek wrote “Despite searches on Google News and Nexis, I’ve been unable to find any story headlines, “Seven Marines Die in Iraq Clashes.” I find it hard to believe that any reporter would knowingly leave this detail out and would like to see a citation”
Well Derek – a quick search on Google netted me over 12000 entries. The first ten appeared in papers across the country and on Al Jeezera and all of them came from the AP!
As Tim says – not one mention of the.Coalition troops killing 50 or so terrorists while incurring those seven losses!
Re: Alex Berenson: First his claim to have been captured by the Mahdi…according to the blog “Back To Iraq” belonging to a former AP and Daily News Reporter, in an entry dated Aug 26, 2004, called “Bad Day in Najaf” he wrote this:
“I do know what’s happening with the police department, however. They’re raiding the Sea of Najaf hotel and rounding the 100 or so journalists at gunpoint and subjecting them to mass arrest? . He was with Alex Berenson when they tried to get to Shrine earlier that day. And he writes that it was the Mahdi militants that protected the reporters, in the heat of a battle that was occurring. Later that day…all the reporters were rounded up at gun point by the COPS not the Mahdi Army.
Quoting him “These are Najaf’s finest. They’re like the old regime, only less disciplined. They’re terrifying and they’re the most dangerous element in this conflict. The Americans and the Mahdi Army have pretty set positions and you know they’re not targeting journalists. But the police here have been engaging in a systematic intimidation of us for three weeks now.. “
Since I could find NO other source to lend credibility to Alex claim that he was held captive by the Mahdi army – for now I can only believe he was a part of the reporters rounded up at gun point by the Najaf police force. The reason for the round up is quite interesting. Please check out the entry!
Futher by Tim Chavez: in the Tennesean.com entry dated 11/4/04 “Reports From The WarFront Dicey” he writes” As for the atrocities, this excerpt from a letter Maj. Butler wrote in The Nation magazine, a prominent liberal publication, appears to back Rose:
”Sadr’s forces butchered scores of Iraqi policemen and their families in a most horrific manner, then left their bodies to rot in the basement of a courthouse. Children were boiled, spouses were roasted with blowtorches and police officers were hacked to death in attempts to derive information and demonstrate the depth of Sadr’s will to all who oppose him and his movement.”
Maj. Butler, a helicopter pilot, is higher on the credibility scale because The New York Times believed him knowledgeable enough to publish an Aug. 23 op-ed column he wrote on the battle of Najaf. He was there.
This too seems to corroborate Tim Ryan’s comments, and stand in sharp contrast to Alex Berenson. However I think its best to consider the insight from Carl Prine, an investigative reporter for the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, who accompanied Marines in the invasion of Iraq and: is a former Marine ”As for the veracity of Lt. Col. Rose, he seems to sincerely believe what was briefed at the staff meetings. Maj. Butler heard the same things, and saw a lot of other things, from a helicopter. Each perspective is important”
It seems Lt Col Tim Ryan perspective is alot closer to the truth. I stand with him, Derek, A trust him more than I will ever trust Alex Berenson, the NYTimes, and the MSM.
Huntress,
First, learn to link.
I used the military’s figures too. No, I don’t think anyone tried to independently verify them, other than to the extent Filkins reported he found few bodies in Fallujah. I don’t see how you could. If you want to call this shoddy reporting, you’re welcome to your opinion. But most of the official government figures you hear in the media are just “blindly reported”; sorry to burst your bubble there. And I am certainly not accusing anyone of lying. I just suspect the 1,500 figure is more of a guess than an estimate.
My google search did not find any article with the headline Ryan talks about. Why don’t you just post the link of one of the 12,000 articles you say you found?
Isn’t it a little weird to discount the NYT so thoroughly, and then rely on it to bolster the credibility of Maj. Butler, a helicopter pilot who (presumably) wouldn’t have been on the ground? Butler doesn’t allege to have seen any of this.
“Each perspective is important” – that’s a bunch of crap. Either there were hundreds of bodies in the mosque, or there weren’t. If you can produce witnesses, photographs, other documentary evidence, by all means, I’m listening.
At the risk of undermining my own argument, I thought my readers might be interested in this ABC News World News Tonight special section. This report was just broadcast on WNT minutes ago, including the line, “Every U.S. officer encountered today said the media has missed or under-reported the reconstruction aspect of the U.S. mission.” And they had this interesting poll.
Barring a mega-attack, I do suspect we’ll see more election-timed stories this week about how the reconstruction is going, how Iraqis are living their lives, etc. My editor is actually headed on Tikrit to report on the election froom an embedded unit there.
Derek:
I have been following this for a few days now. I have to agree with most of the posters here that the news is skewed. But your link to ABC WNT is a good solid story. I think that is fair. It shows both good and bad. It’s more realistic. I think one of the problems people have with the news these day’s is not so much the “news” in general, it’s Cable news! MSNBC, CNN, Fox News they are all 24 hours a day. Once a news story is in, they keep running with it. Bringing in experts and calling it analysis. When it’s really Opinions.
I would like to hear less of this “Insurgents explode car bomb at mosque killing 24 Iraqi’s!” & “Insurgents say they will kill anyone trying to vote!” But that’s all that’s on the news when you turn on the TV, it’s all bad news and it’s not just Iraq either. It’s local news too. Sensationalism has been a problem in the media for a long time, at least as long as I can remember. When I was a kid, my parents used to talk about how it’s always bad news on the TV.
All the bad news makes us look like we are losing and we suck.
Our soldiers have been saying this for a long time, “you always hear what the insurgents did, you never hear what we did to the insurgents!” Other than the major things like Fallujah and Najaf or the big prison thing. Allot of the guys who have come back say that the insurgents attack the Army patrols and then get blown away for attacking. But in the news, all we hear about is that the insurgents attacked the army patrol. The bad guys are not winning, there is no way they can win unless we leave. And they (the insurgents) cant make us leave, we would have to do it on our own choice or be asked by a democratically elected government. So why is the news so bad all the time from Iraq? Why does it make it out to be we are losing? Because that’s what’s going through peoples minds, is this worth it? Doesn’t seem like it according to the news.
Jeffrey,
Reading and considering your last post, I think you’ve made a stronger case and have a valid point. I haven’t gone back and read all the stories myself, but the Yaroslav Trofimov article bolsters your claim considerably, IMHO.
…As I’ve said all along, I think the press does have its problems. It’ll be interesting to see how the MSM reacts as the blogosphere continues to evolve.
Derek,
Yes, the Trofimov article is just plain strange, coming as it did on April 17, 2003. Probably odder still are the multiple and disparate stories coming from the museum director, Donny George. As one journalist queried, “Will the real Donny George please stand up?”
Tomorrow I’m going to email Trofimov and ask him why no followed up on what was revealed in his interview. I’m just curious. I imagine he was too at the time.
You’re a good man to stand up to our criticism. Thanks.
I’m in academia myself and I see all too often “commentary” bleeding into places where it shouldn’t, so we share many concerns.
By the way, in one of my critical reading classes for ESL students, we look at the same, individual events covered by the Daily News, NYPost, and the NYTimes. Same story, three versions. I’ve created a whole semester’s worth of lessons based on this plan. Anyway, the events selected are wide-ranging. Today, for example, we read the Daily News version of an event from back in 1999, when a retired teacher named Dennis Heiner smeared white paint on a painting at the Brooklyn Museum of Art. Because this is for ESL students, we read for grammar basics like direct and indirect speech, but we also discuss content issues like, in this case concerning Mr. Heiner and the artist Chris Ofili, the First Amendment implications. Anyway, I admire good journalists and have read enough about the history and theory of journalism to know its shifting tensions. And, you’re right, the blogosphere in particular and the internet in general, have brought many elements of journalism into sharp focus.
You must, as a journalist and a blogger, feel those tensions yourself.
*
Huntress, here is a story where Alex Berenson describes being taken captive by Sadr’s supporters.
I find my local paper (Arizona Republic), and other papers that I follow or
have followed in the past (Washington Post, NYTimes) do a pretty good
balancing of positive and negative news (actually they have more positive news)
when reporting on the local/metro events.
Considering the importance of whats happenning in Iraq, if someone
would publish a newspaper that has a special Iraq section with wide
coverage of both positive and negative news, my guess is
it would really sell. Until then Arthur Cherenkoff Zindabad.
(Long Live Arthur Cherenkoff!)
Derek,
As I mentioned above, the mercurial Donny George remains a black hole in this story.
Check out a WaPo article from June 9, 2003:
>All Along, Most Iraqi Relics Were ‘Safe and Sound’
>By William Booth and Guy Gugliotta
>Washington Post Staff Writers
>Monday, June 9, 2003; Page A12
>BAGHDAD, June 8 — The world was appalled. One archaeologist described the looting of Iraq’s National Museum of Antiquities as “a rape of civilization.” Iraqi scholars standing in the sacked galleries of the exhibit halls in April wept on camera as they stood on shards of cuneiform tablets dating back thousands of years.
>In the first days after Baghdad fell to U.S. forces, condemnation rained down on U.S. military commanders and officials in Washington for failing to stop the pillage of priceless art, while tanks stood guard at the Ministry of Oil. It was as if the coalition forces had won the war, but lost an important part of the peace and history.
>Apparently, it was not that bad.
>The museum was indeed heavily looted, but its Iraqi directors confirmed today that the losses at the institute did not number 170,000 artifacts as originally reported in news accounts.
>Actually, about 33 priceless vases, statues and jewels were missing.
>”I said there were 170,000 pieces in the entire museum collection,” said Donny George as he stood with beads of sweat glistening on his forehead in his barren office at the museum. “Not 170,000 pieces stolen.”
>George, the director general of research and study of the Iraqi State Board of Antiquities and the source for the original number, said the theft of 170,000 pieces would have been almost impossible: “No, no, no. That would be every single object we have!”
Why he himself wasn’t vigorously challenging the numbers that had been smeared across the front pages of newspapers for close to two months I’ll never know.
BTW, “Apparently, it was not that bad” has to stand as one of the classic examples of soft-pedalling past the graveyard that I have come across. I’m assuming Booth and Gugliotta were laughing as they typed that one.
Two solid months of castigating America and Americans, painting them with brushes inspired by the German Expressionists, and then they say, “My bad.”
Ha ha. Derek, you gotta admit, this is nuts, right?
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Derek, you responded to my post about insurgents taking the day off with this – “Antimedia, “Insurgents Take Day off Due to Rain” – that’s hilarious!! Sorry we can’t slant the news to fit your opinions, but they’re not even true. A security guard died Sunday when a bomb blew up an election office south of Baghdad. Insurgents also stormed a police station in Ramadi. And today there’s been at least 10 wounded in a car bombing in Baghdad. AFP reports two dead.”
Please use Nexis and tell me if you can find any stories of bombings, etc. in Iraq on 1/22/2005. Stories that talk about bombings from the previous day do not count. I searched Nexis and did not find any, but you’re probably better at searching Nexis than I am. You could also correlate the date with the weather report, if you have access to that. If it rained in Iraq on 1/22/2005 and you can’t find any reports of attacks, then that’s the date that Greyhawk was referring to.
Derek,
Until a year or so ago, newspapers received feedback from letters to the editor. Only the newspaper, of course, had access to all of those ideas coming back at them. Then the editors chose which ones to publish. The editors, in other words, controlled the flow of information among the readers. We read the selected letters.
Everything has changed now. Many, many people are upset with journalism these days — including you — and now we are talking to each other. We are not writing letters to the editors in the hope that they’ll be published and another citizen will read my comments. Today antimedia posts on your blog and I read and respond at once. New communities of critical interpretation have been formed. You are part of it too. Just as I am both inside academia and critical of much of what I see.
Like you, I wonder what changes will be implemented because of this newly-born critical community of readers. One thing is sure. The old days where the newspapers controlled the comments of its readers is OVER.
Journalism is a profession, just as teaching is. You know, as a journalist, what you have had to learn to do your job well. Many of the skills come from daily experience and you can’t hand all of that to someone on a CD. It’s the same in teaching. I have been teaching for around fifteen years and what I have learned over those years cannot be downloaded onto an iPod, given to the next person, and ask him or her to go into the classroom. All the same, reasonable criticism is welcomed, right?
About the Sox, one of my brothers is a corporate number-cruncher and a life-long A’s fan and he tells me that a lot of Boston’s recent success (just a bit of understatement!) comes from the number-crunchers that used to work for the A’s. Is it correct that Bill James works for Boston? Back in 1977, my brother, after seeing an ad for it in his Sporting News, purchased Bill James’s first abstract when James was still working as a security guard somewhere. Because James combines a love of baseball and challenging statistics, James is a kind of hero for my High-Geek brother.
I’m currently reading Michael Lewis’s “Moneyball” about the triumph of the computer and spreadsheet over the ex-jock scouts’ visceral selections. Interesting.
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I suspect the link is [url]http://www.breakingnews.ie/2004/12/13/story180108.html[/url]. It’s around the right date. I guess Col. Ryan missed the “US” in his headline. Something an editor would normally catch, but I have to believe something lots of journalists would miss if they didn’t have their editors. To me his slip simply shows that he didn’t have an editor.
But your post:
“If Iraq is slipping toward civil war, the insurgency is gaining strength, the Coalition failing to win Iraqis’ hearts-and-minds, if the troop levels are woefully inadequate and Iraqi security forces poorly trained and untrustworthy – then can we all agree it would be pretty irresponsible for the press to be focusing on happy news stories about sewer plant openings? It would sorta be like rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic; sticking one’s head in the sand.
“If, on the other hand, Iraq is moving steadily toward democracy, if things are getting better and better, if 80% of Iraqis are going to turn out to vote next week, if the average Iraqi is revulsed by the insurgents’ tactics, if the U.S. military dealt the insurgency a crushing blow in Falluhah and are winning Iraqis’ hearts and minds – then yeah, the media portrayal has been far too negative.”
Is really germane. A lot of your critics believe the second to be the case. I [i]think[/i] do too. But where is the factual reporting in the MSM that would allow all Americans to be able to evaluate which of these scenarios is more likely to be correct? There is some polling data, but these stories are hardly ever even near the front page. How about the performance of the Iraqi forces? This is surely a critical question on how things are going, but I’ve seen little about the details of their day to day performance unless it’s tied to a bombing attack. How’s the Iraqi economy doing? How much do we hear about that?
What I’d like to see is fewer graphs of US casualties and discussion with pols who usually have an axe to grind, and more about the facts on the ground – insamuch as we can know them.
By the way I too am impressed that you’re engaging people here.
Sorry about the bad linking there.
[url=http://www.military-quotes.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=7305]This[/url] is another one on the same day that’s from the AP. In this case it’s “battles” not “clashes”.
I’m reading all these comments, but probably won’t have a chance to respond until tonight. Gotta work! But I appreciate the thought everyone’s put into them, and do promise to respond.
And I did want to share this one little tidbit, for what it’s worth. A good friend is in Baghdad, um, in neither a journalistic or military capacity. Can’t really share more, and don’t know what he’s doing there. But did email him to ask whether things are getting better or worse. His response:
Antimedia,
sorry, both your and comment and post were dated Sunday, so I assumed that was the day you meant. It may be that no-one was killed Saturday. It appears that Saturday there was a guerilla attack on a Mosul polling station that injured one; a decapitated body of an apparent Iraqi soldier found in Qaim; and a video claim by insurgents that they had slaughtered 15 national guardsmen.
I still say, trying to paint a one-day lull in bombings as a good-news story is like trying to put lipstick on a pig. If we can pull off the elections without a devastating attack, on the other hand…
Jeffrey,
The A’s were probably the first baseball team to take advantage of advanced mathematics, but most of the Sox front office (Theo, Larry Lucchino, Tom Werner) got their start with the Padres. And yeah, they hired James.
Isn’t Moneyball interesting? There’s an even larger story about how computer modeling is transforming a number of fields. It’s like revenge of the nerds writ large. If you ever watch those World Series of Poker on ESPN, I think about half the guys are math geeks, not card sharks. (related story) John Henry, the Red Sox owner, made his billions using computer models to revolutionize futures markets. MIT grads have used math to take vegas for millions in blackjack. Computers are transforming chess.
And thankfully, I’ve only written one article in the past year or so that’s gotten me in trouble with readers … and I promise to be more cautious in future about saying Angelina Jolie is “every man’s fantasy” …
Nittypig,
See the ABC News piece, as well as the comments from my friend in Baghdad (comment No. 71). The Washington Post also had this poll. Like I’ve been saying, though, I think the biggest test of how things are going will be next week’s election. I also certainly would be interested to learn how the Iraqi forces are doing. I guess the international press corps in Baghdad is having a hard time doing much reporting because of security concerns.
Also – if you are right about what story Lt. Col. Ryan was talking about, don’t you think he’s being terribly unfair? Centcom put out a statement (more here) reporting the Marine deaths, without saying where they occurred, their circumstances or how many of the enemy had died in the fighting. Not to blame Centcom for that – as the release says
Derek, I appreciate your willingness to interact. You don’t have to, so that you do is encouraging.
WRT the day in question, (1/21/2005) it does not appear to me that the ABC News article you pointed to mentions any attacks on that Saturday. I believe Greyhawks statement that there were no attacks that Saturday to be factual unless proven otherwise. My point is not that the headline should read “Insurgents take the day off”, but that the press says nothing about a day when no attacks occurred, yet many attacks get banner headlines. This creates a false impression that nothing but attacks are going on – that all of Iraq is under siege and no one is safe. That impression is patently false, as anyone who reads Iraqi blogs knows. Baghdad is bad, no doubt. But there are many places in Iraq where there is no violence at all and many more where there is only sporadic violence – every few weeks or so.
That is my complaint. There’s no balance. The picture being painted is missing colors.
Earlier you said, “If Iraq is slipping toward civil war, the insurgency is gaining strength, the Coalition failing to win Iraqis’ hearts-and-minds, if the troop levels are woefully inadequate and Iraqi security forces poorly trained and untrustworthy – then can we all agree it would be pretty irresponsible for the press to be focusing on happy news stories about sewer plant openings? It would sorta be like rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic; sticking one’s head in the sand.
“If, on the other hand, Iraq is moving steadily toward democracy, if things are getting better and better, if 80% of Iraqis are going to turn out to vote next week, if the average Iraqi is revulsed by the insurgents’ tactics, if the U.S. military dealt the insurgency a crushing blow in Falluhah and are winning Iraqis’ hearts and minds – then yeah, the media portrayal has been far too negative.”
The problem with this is, it’s a false dichotomy. The truth is somewhere in between, but you would never know that from the media. This idea that something is either all good or all bad simply isn’t realistic. The truth is, things are pretty bad in Baghdad right now, but there’s a great deal of hope for the future. The elections will place in stark relief, the hopes and aspirations of the Iraqi people and the demonic hatred of the terrorists. The end result will be that no reasonable person can think that the terrorists have a just cause, and that will spell their demise. It’s only a matter of time. Each day the Iraqi forces are getting better, more insurgents are being captured or killed, and security is improving (spectacular attacks notwithstanding.)
Has it ever occurred to you that the terrorists always seem to commit their attacks so that they’re timed to hit the TV news in America? Do you think that’s just coincidence? Or are you being used?
Antimedia,
The AP/ABC News article is pretty clear there was a guerilla attack on Saturday, although you have to read to the end.
You say that things are getting better. “It’s only a matter of time. Each day the Iraqi forces are getting better, more insurgents are being captured or killed, and security is improving.” I hope you are right, but that is not, by and large, the impression I get reading and watching the MSM. Does that mean the press is hopelessly biased, or that you’re wrong? I don’t know! I’m not over there. (And I think you can probably find Iraqi blogs to support either argument … English-language blogs are probably unrepresentative in any case).
Also not sure what you said about the timing of attacks. With the 24-hour news cycle, it is not like there is any time that’s better than others to get press coverage. And I’m not sure they’ve been mostly at the same time. To the extent that they are, I think the attacks have been timed to rush hour.
But your larger point is well-taken: I’m sure the terrorists are trying to use the American press. You see that with the videos they’ve released (here, here, and most especially, here. I was thinking about this as I pondered this blog-entry criticizing myself and the American press:
I don’t know that this is exactly true – the insurgents may be far more interested in setting off a civil war than grabbing U.S. headlines. But ultimately, though, to the extent that it is — and I don’t mean this in a snarky way at all — but what do you do about it? I mean, the purpose of terrorism is to terrorize. All terrorism is committed to get headlines and news. I guess under Mr. Weidner’s logic, you could also blame the press for 9/11 & the bombings in Bali and Madrid.
And the days when the MSM could get together and supress news is long gone. Newspapers and TV networks, especially, are going to exercise disrection as to what images they show – but they’re not going to not report the news.
Derek,
Indeed, “Revenge of the Nerds” could stand as a subtitle to “Moneyball.” And you’re right to point out that number-crunchers have fanned out across the numerous fields of current endeavor. For me, what was startling was to find out that my brother with a room chock full of baseball stats actually belonged to a COMMUNITY. Now that is scary! He and his wife just had a child and the room they could be using is still stuffed with his first love, baseball stats, of course.
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Derek –
I’m afraid that I have to agree with Jeffrey. The media is too quick to swoop down on what is wrong in a situation and to report on the sensational. For example, I’m sure that he would agree with me that the speed with which the media latched onto the US government’s allegations about Iraq’s WMD program, and then trumpeted it as virtual truth is quite disgusting. As somebody with so much experience in the analysis of texts, I’m sure that Jeffrey was dismayed and outraged at the fact that so little investigative reporting was conducted into the veracity of the casus belli Bush laid out. For example, some simple digging about on the internet would have turned up a far more convincing explanation for the 81mm aluminium tubes than that of components in uranium enrichment programs. Yet no journalists tried to question or analyse this case for war to the extent that they peddled allegations of secret production lines and chemical stockpiles.
Often lies are accepted as truth, or are not at the very least disputed. For example this:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A22249-2005Jan19.html
Has turned out to be a pile of lies – yet was faithfully peddled as an emotive appeal for war prior to the invasion.
I’d also like to point out the facts on the looted Museum: That it was thanks to the efforts of the conscientious Iraqis that had forseen the looting that the major works were saved; if all had been left to the care of the Coalition the worst case scenario might well have been what had been reported in the first place … or worse.
Hm. The previous ‘anonymous’ was me.
Bruno,
good comments. My mea culpa on the WMDs is here.
Derek,
You wrote: “Also – if you are right about what story Lt. Col. Ryan was talking about, don’t you think he’s being terribly unfair? Centcom put out a statement (more here) reporting the Marine deaths, without saying where they occurred, their circumstances or how many of the enemy had died in the fighting.”
I think if you look a little deeper at what Centcom said that day (12/13) you’ll see that they released this and this Neither confirms Col Ryan’s statement about enemy casualties or indeed is necessarily related to the seven reported deaths. However, on his broader point, that overall military operations on that day were pretty good, there seems to be some support (again assuming I have the right date). In saying that there were 50 enemy deaths associated with the seven US deaths is he using information unavaiable from Centcom? From what I can tell he certainly is. But his broader point, at least for Dec 13 2004, is well supported. In short I do think you’re being a bit unfair when you say:
“Despite searches on Google News and Nexis, I’ve been unable to find any story headlines, “Seven Marines Die in Iraq Clashes.” I find it hard to believe that any reporter would knowingly leave this detail out and would like to see a citation.”
Perhaps I’m naive, but I’d expect that the AP could do a better job of figuring out the circumstances of casualties than I can by looking at Centcom press releases.
Is Col Ryan’s assertion about the major news agency’s lead fully referenced? Heck no. But his particular point broadly supported by what Centcom says? I’d say so. And yes I known that centcom press releases cannot be treated as gospel truth.
Nittypig,
I went back and did a little more investigating … it looks like the AP story moved very early in the morning of Monday, Dec. 13, probably between midnight and 2 a.m. EST. We were actually had the story in late editions of Monday’s paper: “SEVEN U.S. MARINES were killed yesterday in two separate incidents in Iraq’s Anbar Province, a vast region encompassing the battleground cities of Fallujah and Ramadi, the military said early today.”
In earlier editions of our paper, we had this story about Tareq Aziz and other Saddam henchmen skipping meals. Then when the AP story moved, we updated it with the Marine deaths and the hunger-strike information was moved down to the seventh paragraph. (I don’t have a link to that story, however).
Also, look at the second link you provided – it’s time-stamped at 4:52 a.m. Dec. 13.
I don’t see how the AP could have figured out anything more about the circumstances of the deaths, given that Centcom didn’t even say where they occurred. In situations like that, we’re pretty much dependent on what the military tell us.
A larger point, though: I sure hope we can trust Centcom press releases. I wrote several stories off them myself, in the days of the invasion. So did the rest of the press. (The other vital resource are the DoD releases, which I receive by email). Maybe they’re not the “gospel truth”, but I’ve never known them to lie. Casualty reports, especially, should be sancrosanct.
As both a citizen and a journalist, I love the fact that I can have a relatively high degree of trust about what the military tells me. They’re willing to admit their mistakes – even accidentally killing civilians. The contrast between the coalition press conferences and the Iraqi propaganda minister’s couldn’t have been more stark.
That’s why Lt. Col. Gilbert’s dishonesty, and Lt. Col. Ryan’s lame attempt to justify it, was so disappointing. Sacrificing the credibility of the U.S. military to get some temporary advantage in a single battle strikes me as a really bad idea.
The NYT ran this story today on Iraq’s utilities. It didn’t mention sewer, focusing insead on power and water. Here’s a graph on Iraq’s electricity production showing it still below pre-war levels, mostly due to sabotage. And a bombing left many Baghdad residents for a week without water for drinking, laundry or bathing. On the bright side, I guess, there have been improvements in the Iraqi engineers’ ability to respond to sabotage.
You asked me to provide the link on google for the Headline Seven Marines Die In Iraqi Clashes:
http://www.google.ca/search?hl=en&q=Seven+Marines+Die+in+Iraqi+Clashes&meta=
I know this isn’t the correct way to link – but Deal with it! 25,800 links came up for that ONE Headline.
I quoted the NYT Times to you ONLY because YOU seem to find it a credible source,and the point I made to you about CNN, was also to be applied to the NYTimes. You’re smart enough to get what I was saying and doing, Derek, so if the best you can do is make some inane snide remark about “learning to link” and “not using the MSM sources to make my argument, then so be it. Doesn’t lend credibility to your position, but let me explain why I did it , so you’re clear: Since YOU insist that MSM can and must be trusted as the ONLY reliable source of UNBIASED information, I chose to offer you articles that lend crediblity to what Tim Ryan wrote, since you seem to disagree vehemently, and only posted references from MSM sources to support your position, I wasnt going to give you an opportunity to claim that NON MSM sources ALSO supproting Tim Ryans position, were not credible. Face it Derek, you may want to believe that Tim Ryan’s position is BS, BUT it isn’t and even your beloved MSM lends credence and support to his position.
BTW – Tim Ryan appeared from the battlefield on Fox News Wednesday night, not to discuss his letter or your rebuttal, but to discuss the upcoming election, the security measures being taken, and he shared some of the victories of the week, including the capture of insurgents, weapons, prevention of roadside bombs from being detonated, the readiness of the Iraqi security forces, you know GOOD news..you DO remember Good Honest well balanced news, don’t you, Derek?
Oh as to your comment about “all perspectives count” as “being bullshit”…well you might want to tell that to the reporter, a former Marine, who was embedded in Iraq and therefore a “credible” ground witness. But hey, what does he know he’s seen combat, and been in Iraq reporting the news, while YOU’VE been where…….ummm…oh yeah… NOT in Iraq covering any story but…..so what would you know about perspective from a chopper?
Huntress, none of the stories in the first page of that search actually have the headline, “Seven Marines Die In Iraqi Clashes.” There are many similar headlines, but none match exactly. I think Nittypig is right in the story he found, though. My response is in Comment 82.
I certainly don’t think that only the mainstream press is the only source of reliable or unbiased information. Bloggers can be very credible indeed. But so far, the only evidence you’ve presented to support Ryan’s claim of “two hundred-plus headless bodies found in the main mosque” (and a body baked in a bread oven) comes down to this letter to the editor. It doesn’t repeat those claims, but does make other lurid allegations (“children boiled”). But there’s no sources cited, and Butler doesn’t claim to have witnessed this himself. If that’s the best you can do, we’ll have to agree to disagree.
When you say the “reporter” was embedded in Iraq – you mean Chavez? I hope you know he apologized last fall for impugning journalists “with an unnecessary political message.” I wasn’t aware he was an ex-Marine or had been to Iraq. In fact, I was under the impression he hadn’t been there. Could you kindly provide a source? (update: I had a look on Nexis, found a bunch of stories Chavez has wrote but none from Iraq. I could have missed them, I guess, but it seems unlikely).
I’m glad for Lt. Col. Ryan getting his 15 minutes of fame on Fox. But there’s nothing extraordinary about that; CNN has been running similar stories all day, and I’ve seen stories in a buncha papers, including my own (also here, and in the Times, here, here, and more oddly, here.) And that’s just today.
Lastly, I didn’t mean to be snarky with my “learn to link” comment. I just think it’s impolite not to use links.
As I just said, I think bloggers can be very credible indeed. One blog I’ve been reading is Citizen Frank, the diary of Army Capt. Frank Myers, who is spending a year in Iraq. He is a real stand-up guy and it really shows the sacrifices the soldiers are making, spending so much time away from their families (his 5-year-old son’s blog). Anyway, he just had a long post on the Iraqi elections in which he also critiques media coverage. I think it’s worth reading and considering; it’s far more evenhanded than Lt. Col. Ryan’s letter.
::On the other side, Juan Cole says he’s appalled by the “cheerleading tone of US news coverage.”
As I’ve said all along, I’m not in Iraq. Most of what I know about what the situation there comes from mainstream press, so it’s very hard for me to say whether the coverage has been too negative or too positive.
I do try to read both the mainstream press and blogs of all persuasions: Iraq the Model and Riverbend, Juan Cole and Instapundit, military blogs and Antiwar.com.
Derek wrote:”But my point is just that journalism is about extremes, not the ordinary.”
Oh not it’s not! I have seen and heard headlines such as, “New study shows obesity caused by overeating.'”
I always gasp at these and say, “That is news?”
But that you think that news should be only extremes exemplifies your disconnect with the American people. I do not get my news from MSM anymore precisely because I was tired of hearing only of murders and mayhem. There IS more to life than that and yes, I want to hear about all of it. THe MSM no longer reports “news”, they just report sensationalism. I don’t need that in my diet, if I wanted that, I’d buy the Enquirer.
The real “news” are the things that affect our lives. Most murders and mayhem do not or if they did – we would not need the news to tell us about it – WE’D ALREADY KNOW! Murders n mayhem are things we could use numbers on just so we would know if they are rising or falling in general.
Now if the perp is hiding nearby, then yes, tell us. Otherwise, confine it to page 8.
Perhaps the whole point of “news” needs to be rethought by the MSM. It is not just extremes to the rest of us out here in the real world.
“I still say, trying to paint a one-day lull in bombings as a good-news story is like trying to put lipstick on a pig. If we can pull off the elections without a devastating attack, on the other hand…”
WELL?
no devastating attacks
but i didn’t see any glowing reports!
not that i looked much – i get my “news” from blogs now
Jo,
Like the rest of the media, my paper does do a lot of reporting on where the crime rate is going. I made a tally here (scroll down) and found six stories just since July.
Personally, though, I find murder stories often very compelling. Like the story that’s been in the news these past few days, the murder of aspiring actress Nicole duFresne, who was shot and killed in New York’s Lower East Side after she challenged a mugger with the words, “What are you going to do, shoot us?” This story has been on my paper’s front page for several days, as well as the Post’s. But of course if you don’t like “murders and mayhem” coverage you do have other options.
And yeah, maybe if you had read the mainstream press, you woulda read some of the glowing reports! Everything I read was very positive, although I didn’t read everything. Dan Rather in particular I remember being very effusive. (You can find our stories here and here, with an editorial here. Our front page was a picture of the long voting queues and the words, “Freedom March.” I had nothing to do with any of our coverage on this, though).
A quote I made to The Tennessean is improperly referenced above. As the column by Tim Chavez made clear, I agree with Alex Berenson and discount any rumor of massive killings of people in the mosque as mere conjecture or gossip heard around headquarters.
The point of my quote concerned the greater issue of covering the occupapation of Iraq. The security situation int the country precludes much independent investigation of the ongoing war by western journalists. News agencies increasingly rely on untrained stringers or unvetted freelancers who too often are closer to coalition forces or various insurgent groups to be trusted.
I believe that LtCol. Rose sincerely believes what he heard to be true (whether it is, or not). As a reporter, I also believe the perspective of a helicopter pilot (who was discussing a different slice of the battlefield) is instructive if one is trying to get a grasp on the large war.
Berenson and I are in complete agreement that the mosque story was simply wrong, and to his credit Chavez sought to set the record straight. At the same time, a reporter would be an idiot not to use sources in headquarters or the field to piece together an image of the war.
Derek,
I must complement you on sticking to your guns and defending your arguments. It’s this kind of dialog that gives me hope that the engine of political dialog isn’t dead. On the other hand, (especially in early comments) you seemed to adopt a fairly snarky tone. Considering what you, as a journalist, know of basic human psychology – is replying to a dearly held and (at least by their own reckoning) well-reasoned opinion with something falling far short of respect is not a good way to win hearts and minds. In this case, since this is a productive dialog being sustained here, I would hope you avoid the temptation to let tone diminish your argument.
Nonetheless, I am heartened not by your argument as much as I am by its clearly thought out defense. If I can assume that you trend towards the left, politically (and demographics would tend to suggest that’s a reasonable guess), then I am glad to say that you give lie to the assertion that Marc Cooper is “The Last Honest Leftist” – he has good company in you and others who are more intersted in the fate of the country than the political points to be gained by picking fights.
And in other news (sorry, I just had to throw that in), I would have preferred sending this as an e-mail, but was unable to find a link on your main page. So please accept my apologies for what could be seen is the airing of dirty laundry, or at the least, something fairly off topic.
By the way, for reference, this is what John Burns has to say about some of the coverage in Iraq. Among other things, he seems to think that there is some measure of bias in the media. Let me dig around for a bit more data, and post on it. I’ll be back with a link.
Bravo,
Thanks. I thought I was fairly civil, considering what people were saying about me, but I’m sure there was room for improvement. If you want to assume I’m a leftist because I’m a new york city reporter … well, the odds are in your favor, granted, but it’s still an assumption. I try to keep that sorta thing private, and limit my online rantings to journalism-related topics. I’m not trying to pretend I don’t have views on issues like abortion or capital punishment — but I think it would be harder for potential sources to trust me if they knew I disagreed with them. Like a number of reporters, I’m not registered to vote as a Democrat, Republican or whatever for the same reason.
That was a remarkable article by Burns, wasn’t it? I had read it when it came out, and re-read it just now. I should buy that book to read the whole thing. He makes some excellent points. But as far as I can tell, his and the Times’ reporting since the insurgency began has been just as “negative” as the rest of the press corps. (Although I’ve been out of the country on vacation for the last 10 days, so haven’t been up on the news lately)
By the way, did people catch this story out of Iraq, of the 19-year-old with Down’s Syndrome used as a human bomb? The story is out of Australia; the local newspaper here in NZ carried a wire service version of it. Absolutely made my blood boil…
Sorry I don’t have an email button on the blog – I should fix that. But you or anyone else wants to send me a message privately, do so at derek72 at gmail.com.
Carl,
Thanks for that clarification. Any thoughts/commentary/defense/criticism/etc. of the mainstream media’s overall Iraq coverage? I’d certainly be interested to hear what you had to say…
Derek,
BTW, if American lives are more important than Iraqi utilities, why in the hell did the power outages in Baghdad last summer get so much coverage?
So much coverage? I don’t recall reading very much about outages at all, except in 2003 when they were struggling to get the power back on.
Even a few weeks back, when most of Baghdad lost their most important utility – water – there wasn’t a lot of coverage, compared to that devoted to insurgent attacks.
Derek,
You sez: “I don’t recall reading very much about outages at all, except in 2003 when they were struggling to get the power back on.” That’s the coverage of which I was speaking. If the status of American casualties outweighs the importance of Iraqi services, then why is it that there was significant coverage on the electricity status in Baghdad last summer while American soldiers were still being killed.
Media Bias: An Overview
A comprehensive overview of media bias and possible reasons behind the evidence and data.
Media Bias: An Overview
A comprehensive overview of media bias and possible reasons behind the evidence and data.