Outrage of the Week
The Media's Failure to Report "The Real" Iraq

Since the fall of Baghdad, media coverage of the ongoing violence in Iraq has been in steady decline.  To the politically casual American, it would appear that violence in Iraq and the sacrifices of our troops are sporadic at best.  The truth shows the opposite.

This week is a perfect example of the media's negligence in reporting.  Since Sunday, 11 U.S. troops have been killed in Iraq.  On Tuesday alone, seven soldiers were killed in a car bombing.  Headlines news?  No, news coverage of the event fell far behind Senate judicial nominations and the Michael Jackson trial. 

In reporting attacks that killed over 50 Iraqis on Monday, the Washington Post chose to run the story below a hard-hitting piece on shortages of oil-based paint.  Typical . . .

A clear sign of the disinterest or the incompetence of the media is the number of embedded reporters remaining in Iraq.   During the gung-ho invasion, over 800 journalists were embedded with troops.  That number shrunk to a few dozen over time.  

Although blame for the lack of reporting can easily fall solely on the back of the media, some responsibility must placed on the Bush administration and its supporters.  From the start of the invasion, newspapers that chose to display the horrors of war such as these were called "unpatriotic" and "un-American."  Accurate reporting of events in Iraq were seen by Bush supporters as detrimental to the administration, resulting in a chorus call for "positive" reporting.

The Bush administration itself is developing a good history of manipulating the media.  From embedded reporters to the current Newsweek flap, Bush and his Republican Party have become master media manipulators. 

• In March of 2003, in an attempt to quell correlations to Vietnam, the Bush administration banned photographers and the media from covering the arrival of flag-draped coffins at Dover Air Force Base. 
• As the death toll of Iraqi civilians climbed, hospitals were ordered to stop counting civilian deaths by the Coalition Provisional Authority. 
• In January of 2003, it was discovered that a nationwide rash of pro-Bush letters to the editor were fakes.  The same thing happened in October of 2003 with letters purportedly from soldiers in Iraq extolling their good deeds and positive outlook of the conflict.

The Bush administration is well aware of the impact of accurate reporting and news coverage in Iraq.  The war, originally waged by President George W. Bush based upon non-existent weapons of mass destruction would lose even more support if Americans were simply properly informed.

Our men and women serving in Iraq and Afghanistan deserve the truth to be evident.  Their sacrifices, regardless of the cause, must be recorded for their honor and as a part of our national history.

To date, 1,637 American troops, 87 civilian contractors, and an untold number of government civilians have been killed in Iraq.

To discuss this issue on the LP Blog, click here.