Blindsided by the press


The main media outlets may not be deliberately screwing up, but showing only one side of the Iraq war is not serving the American people.
I believe that the Bush Administration has made some real screwups when it comes to Iraq.

But...(and this is a REALLY BIG BUT)

I also believe that the major media is very selective when it comes to Iraq. Hugh Hewitt has more.

The MSM has badly botched its Iraq coverage, and the effect is pernicious though unintended.  USMC Lt. General James Mattis made this point earlier in the week, but all of the milbloggers plus Ace and me added to the critique: The MSM is, collectively, helping the enemy.

The MSM does not consciously intend to do this (though one dissent was entered on this point.)  The MSM reporters in Iraq are often courageous and diligent about what they can cover, and some go often with the troops into the most difficult combat situations. MSM apologists eager to defend their institutions' conduct quickly cite the best of the MSMers who are good indeed, and paint criticism of the MSM as motivated by partisanship than any genuine critique of the coverage.

But, according to the milbloggers (and Mattis), many MSMers have fallen into habits and methods which distort the course of the war to grave effect.  They cannot cover much of the war because of danger to their persons, and they are uninterested in many aspects of the war because --as is the case with all wars-- many crucial aspects of the war are dull as stale doughnuts.  As Sgt. Boggs related, no reporter ever rode along with his transport conveys in the year that he delivered the crucial supplies to a slowly rebuilding Iraq, and he was unaware of any reporter ever accompanying any similar routine supply convoy.  Why would they?  There is no story in that.

Except that there is: It is the dull but crucial backstory to the rebuilding of Iraq.

Sgt. Boggs also relayed how he easily distinguishes between Shia and Sunni populations and towns, understands the basic history of Islam, understands the basic political divides of the various parties contending for power today, knows the foreign infiltration's intensity and lethality, and, crucially, know the military and its routines.

And as for Iraq's roads, climate, seasons etc, few are better schooled.  Two years in a country --one in the south and one in the north-- teach you a lot.

I do not expect unqualified support for the war in Iraq. I would be suspicious if something like that happened. But let's face facts, there is much of the story that is not being told. And because of that, most Americans do not have enough information to judge for themselves.

Instead, the AP breathlessly trots out the fact that the military dead in Iraq now exceeds the number killed on 9-11 without giving context. Other agencies can't even wait a week after Gerald Ford died before announcing that he felt the war in Iraq was not justified. That's not the whole story, and using the "sacred dead" to justify political arguments is about as low as you can get.

Tell as much of the story as you can and let people judge for themselves.

— NeoWayland

Posted: Thu - December 28, 2006 at 12:15 PM  Tag


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