In “The Big Picture(s),†I noted the establishment media’s less-than-subtle hostility to Pres. Bush’s decision to “surge†US troops in hopes of bringing down escalating sectarian violence.ÂÂ
The latest study from the Project for Excellence in Journalism looks at how the establishment media has done since then:
Through the first 10 months of the year, the portrait of Iraq that Americans have received from the news media has in considerable measure been a grim one. Roughly half of the reporting has consisted of accounts of daily violence. And stories that explicitly assessed the direction of the war have tended toward pessimism, according to a new study of press coverage of events on the ground in Iraq from January through October of 2007.
***
And as the year went on, the narrative from Iraq in some ways brightened. The drumbeat of reports about daily attacks declined in late summer and fall, and with that came a decline in the amount of coverage from Iraq overall.
In “The Big Picture(s),” I noted that as early as September 2003, establishment reporters admitted that “good news†stories were getting short shrift. Now there is more good news… and even less coverage.
The establishment media coverage is not a total failure.  The 56% of stories with a clear negative assessment — and even the 62.7% of stories featuring either daily violence or “negative themes” — is less than the 94% negative story rate of 2006.
On the other hand, the stories coded by PEJ as being “straight facts” was 3.8% — not exactly what one might expect from a press that aspires to objectivity.
Also, buried in a footnote, we learn that:
Thus far in 2007, PEJ’s News Coverage Index has found that the policy debate, a story covered largely from Washington rather than Iraq, has made up the majority of Iraq war coverage.
A casual study of the PEJ’s weekly reports suggests that this has long been the case, raising the question of how Americans can be expected to have an informed opinion about the policy debate with so little coverage of the facts on the ground in Iraq.
Finally, the PEJ helpfully notes that the media’s pessimistic coverage “was more skeptical of the Iraqi government and the stability of the country than it was of U.S. policy.”
Some might find that curious, given that Iraq was becoming more stable during this period. Skepticism about Iraq’s national government is warranted, though the truly skeptical will also note that spending less time on Iraq and criticizing its national government is — coincidentally — exactly what Democrats in the US Congress and on the presidential campaign trail were doing during the same period.
– There may be at least one 6 year old in White horse Alaska that don’t consider the case of widespread Liberal bias anything but a closed case at this point, but that would be about it.
– My local Liberal rag, the San Diego Union, ran a front section, inside back page, married stealthily to a front page article that always started with “Today the ineffectual Bush administration continued the quagmire-that-is-Iraq with the (fill in the next 6 paragraphs…..(con’d on inside back page).
– Now they’ve shifted gears, ecplicitly ignoring any mention of stable events, or security improvements, or the reporting of “non-deaths”, to long winded articles alluding to the nefarious, though never sourced, info concerning the backgrounds of Iraqi government officials, as well as Imams and clergy that are cooperation with the surge.
– Its sickening, and shameful. Period.
What are you trying to say, man? Just spell it out already. Is there a point you’re trying to make? Is obtuseness your natural state?
/typical leftist cant
– BTW. They had been running that same leed since sometime just after tha fall of Bhagdad.
Gee.
I don’t know about you, but I was TOTALLY taken aback by this.
The MSM have decided to NOT cover Iraq anymore because the news is getting positive? Aww, c’mon. That is certainly not obvious, is it? I’m sure you had to dig through mounds of baloney to come to this conclusion.
Hmmm. Come to think of it, I haven’t seen a whole lot of “Hundreds Die!” stories lately, and the ones I do see are sort of in the “See? It’s still bad” mode.
But, still, you must be making this up…
The press is just making up for having been cheerleaders for Bu$Hitler in the rush to war.
Well, fancy that. It’s like they’ve got the same playbook or something.
Sean M,
You are truly skeptical.
I am having a pretty good time imagining our trolls trying to dig up some red paint to smear on the Pew Foundation.
– Moe…I would imagine Pew has its hands full, earning its next big DNC check, planning the Hillery plant pools,and ’08 exits…..
PEJ is not Pew, though probably not dissimilar in ideology.
PEJ is affiliated with Pew. From its About Us page:
Here’s the link:
http://journalism.org/about_pej/about_us
It appears to be a subsidiary:
“On July 1, 2006, the Project began a major new phase in its history. It formally separated from CCJ and Columbia University in order to focus on and expand its research activities. It joined the Pew Research Center in Washington, D.C, which administers seven other research projects funded by the Pew Charitable Trusts.”
Jinx!
*Clenches fist and grits teeth*
It’s best to go to Pentagon reports for good news on the war:
Despite drop in violence, Pentagon finds little long-term progress in Iraq
so why didn’t you link to the Pentagon?
Cause their headline is:
Iraq Report Cites Security Progress, Need for Other Efforts to Keep Pace
Then you should do that, instead of relying on the virulently anti-war McClatchy chain for their spin on it.
But if you choose not to do that, here’s a little more balanced summary:
Economy/Government services
– Inflation, through October of this year, stands at 4.2 percent. Last year, it was 52.8 percent.
– Like the Canadian dollar, the Iraqi dinar is gaining on the U.S. dollar (from 1475 dinars per dollar last year to 1218 per dollar)!
– Electricity production is up 14 percent over last year. (And there’s more to come. Iranian and Chinese companies have inked deals to build more power plants).
– Oil production and oil exports are up slightly. But with higher oil prices up, there is significantly more money coming in. The Iraqi government is expected to pass a $48.4 billion budget for 2008.
– BUT: the report says the provision of essential services is still plagued by sectarian bias.
– BUT: Unemployment remains high (17.6 percent) and Underemployment (38.1 percent)
Political Reconciliation
Although the Iraqi parliament has lagged, the report cites “bottom-up” reconciliation in the provinces. The report also points to significant achievements by the much-maligned Iraqi parliament has made progress:
– Passing a “Unified Retirement Law” that will allow civil servants from the Baathist government to collect pensions.
– The oil-revenue law still hasn’t passed, but their is de facto revenue sharing as the government is sending money out to the provinces.
– BUT: The report says the key national reconciliation laws need to be passed to solidify gains.
Security
The most dramatic developments have been the reduction of violence.
– Weekly IED attacks have dropped 68 percent since June. That brings the number of IED attacks to where they were in 2005.
– The numbers of “high-profile attacks” fell by 62 percent since March. The number of US troops deaths from IED’s fell to the lowest level since January, 2006.
– Civilian casualties are now below the level seen before the Feburary 2006 Samarra bombing touched off a de facto civil war.
– BUT: Nineva province (in the north) is not seeing improvement. In fact, the level of attacks in Nineva is higher now than it was in 2006.
I mean, please, McClatchy? “Truth to Power” rotating through the banner McClatchy?
…and I stand corrected on the Pew thing. Missed them joining in ’06.
I just like to pick nits, Karl. It’s what people like about me, especially Dan.
No prob. It’s good to know.
so why didn’t you link to the Pentagon?
Because Mcclatchy actually used more quotes from the report than the press release from the Pentagon.
And they call me “truly skeptical.”
“Because Mcclatchy actually used more quotes from the report than the press release from the Pentagon.”
Isn’t she just the cutest thing?
sure, and it didn’t link to the actual report either. some phrase about quality and quantity comes to mind.
Fixed that for you.
ha ha! Karl, and doesn’t that cover the whole “Big Picture(s)” theme in a nutshell?
Here is your basic cheerleader report.
If clapping louder is all you expect from newspapers, we might as well revise the 1st amendment. The press will be an adjunct to govt., with no need for constitutional freedom.
Even Fox News decided to carry a story much more critical than the Washington Times.
so?
“If clapping louder is all you expect from newspapers…”
That has absolutely nothing to do with anything Karl has written. Learn to read.
“The press will be an adjunct to govt., with no need for constitutional freedom.”
Now you are getting warm, how do you feel about the press being an adjunct to the enemy, with no regard for journalistic integrity? Does that bother you at all, or is it only our own government you are concerned about?
Thomas Jefferson, on the necessity of a free press (1787)
“The basis of our government being the opinion of the people, the very first object should be to keep that right; and were it left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers, or newspapers without a government, I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter.”
“Some might find that curious, given that Iraq was becoming more stable during this period.”
Sorry to interrupt Karl’s delusions, but where was that stability again? Just because American troops have suppressed part of the violence doesn’t mean that things have become stable. The Iraqi government has very little reach outside the green zone. The government, army, and police are still thoroughly infiltrated by the Badr Brigade and the Mahdi Army and those militias have maintained their pre-surge levels of strength. Recent reports indicate that Basra is effectively under militia government and has become a fundamentalist Shiite “paradise” as a result. Then, there’s the rampant criminal gangs.
Outside the Sunni switcheroo in Anbar (which began before the surge), the surge hasn’t changed any of the structural conditions that produced the chaos in 2006 and the first part of 2007. The situation looks more like the lull before the next storm than stability and that’s the main reason we don’t see any more optimism from the American generals than we see from the mainstream media.
and yet, he also said:
Advertisements… contain the only truths to be relied on in a newspaper.
Thomas Jefferson, Letter to Nathaniel Macon, January 12, 1819
Which makes his previous comment even more remarkable.
or were you being ironic phoebe?
Maggie, you must be a great admirer of Putin, as he runs a press corps according to the manner you desire.
sorry, I’m going through a sugar rush (had to test the cupcakes!) and i’m sleepy. just was thinking I’d come across another Jefferson quote lately that didn’t seem very flattering of the press. quite a few can be found here just goes to show it’s best to find the source, which you didn’t link to.
“Nothing can now be believed which is seen in a newspaper. Truth itself becomes suspicious by being put into that polluted vehicle. The real extent of this state of misinformation is known only to those who are in situations to confront facts within their knowledge with the lies of the day.” –Thomas Jefferson to John Norvell, 1807. ME 11:224
And right on cue Bozo the Professor shows up to make Phoebe look positively enlightened.
“Just because American troops have suppressed part of the violence doesn’t mean that things have become stable.”
MORE stable, dude, MORE stable. Nobody is implying it is over, in fact that is why we don’t want to retreat just yet. What they are saying is even if it is a calm before another storm, during the calm is MORE stable than it is during the storm. How the fuck you got anyone to give you a Phd must surely be one of the wonders of the world.
“Maggie, you must be a great admirer of Putin, as he runs a press corps according to the manner you desire.”
I spoke too soon, looks like maybe Phoebe and Dr. Ric are going to try to out idiot one another. I am out of here.
Maggie, when you can point to a TJ statement calling for repeal of the 1st amendment, that will be your winning move.
Otherwise, your link does have many worthy quotes. Thank you for providing it…
“The most effectual engines for [pacifying a nation] are the public papers… [A despotic] government always [keeps] a kind of standing army of newswriters who, without any regard to truth or to what should be like truth, [invent] and put into the papers whatever might serve the ministers. This suffices with the mass of the people who have no means of distinguishing the false from the true paragraphs of a newspaper.” –Thomas Jefferson to G. K. van Hogendorp, Oct. 13, 1785. (*) ME 5:181, Papers 8:632
Anybody else notice the distinct lack of links in the ole perfesser’s comment up there?
yeah, i’m not sure where I called for suppression of the press. though I did recommend finding source docs. perhaps that’s getting too citizen journalist-y and threatening someone’s rice bowl.
funny how that happens when someone recommends listening to the Pentagon, and not linking it.
It looks like you spoke too soon twice. Check out what she said to maggie right after you split.
anyhoo, this sounds like some governance outside the green zone:
Since the last report, Major Crimes Courts (MCCs) established in Ninewa, Kirkuk, Salah ad Din, and Anbar Provinces as branch courts of the Central Criminal Court of Iraq (CCC-I) held 51 trials that issued 33 death sentences and 18 life sentences. (page 4)
Is that Peggy Lee singing in the background?
only if your the tramp.
you’re. gah! it’s the cupcake. with sugar and frosting on top. and the not sleeping.
which also explains the OT rambling. sorry. again.
Ric’s apparent unfamiliarity with English has already been addressed, so I’ll just address his boilerplate about the Anbar Awakening beginning before the surge. Actually, I’ll leave that one to Bing West, who has been there:
BTW, the Los Angeles Times named him “one of the top ten journalists covering Iraq,” but maybe they’re part of the VRWC in Ricworld.
As for phoebe — who apparently believes the existence of the Washington Times and Fox News somehow represent the coming police state — I would refer her to the PEJ report, which studied a broad cross-section of the media and found more than three times as many stories with a negative theme than ones with a positive theme. This during a period which saw massive reductions in monthly civilian casualties.
Karl,
I think our logically-challenged friend is basing her shrieking less on “the existence of the Washington Times and Fox News,” than the fact that:
1. maggie called her on the fact that, when she said, “It’s best to go to Pentagon reports for good news on the war,” she instead quoted McClatchy. She (phoebe) then pointed out that the McClatchy article quoted more from the report than the Pentagon’s press release (without linking to the report).
2. You and maggie pointed out that McClatchy is an anti-war outfit, and…
3. She feels that the Washington Times’ article is a “cheerleader report,” as compared to what, surely, must be a dispassionate, objective article published by McClatchy (nevermind that “truth to power stuff,” that’s just boilerplate, I’m sure). I might also note that she pointed to Fox News as printing a more negative article than the Washington Times, though she neglected to mention that it was an AP article. I know, details.
The obvious conclusion here (supported by some of the stuff Jefferson said, but not all of it):
If you’re going to be at all critical about the way one newspaper chain covers the news in the comment section of a blog, obviously you think the First Amendment’s guarantees of a free press ought to be rescinded. You fascist neokkkon bastards.
I’d be interested to find out what phoebe thinks about the revival of the “fairness doctrine,” though I doubt I’d be surprised.
Feebs, the Jefferson quote about preferring newspapers without government to government without newspapers was in reference to a press that was openly partisan, rather than the pseudo-impartiality we have today. More importantly, he’d have whole-heartedly supported the idea that we could call McClatchy a pack of cranks; it wouldn’t have sounded at all like a call for censorship to him.
In fact, I suspect he’d have considered it the essence of free speech.
Man, I wish these Iraq experts like phobe and the Perfesser were here teaching me the TRVTH instead of all these actual Iraqis and recently returned 1st ID personnel. Maybe I’d have a better idea of what is reallygoing on in Iraq before I fly over…
Major John – I still have a huge box ready to send over to you. Hope all is well with you.
[…] about Iraq when the news was bad, but now that the news is better, rather than reporting that, they’re simply ignoring it and printing stories about other things. Visit the site for the entire […]
JD,
I am about to head off for class on some lovely quasi-high tech stuff (Ble Force Tracker). I’m friggin’ tired and worn out from the last couple of days spent in all my armor and assorted “battle rattle”. I never thought I could feel so old at 41, heh heh. But I go on two weeks leave come Saturday morning, so it’s all good.
uh, that is “Blue Force Tracker”…
MJ:
Have you signed the contracts yet to be the Protein Wisdom exclusive propoganda arm of the neo-con chickenhawk disinformation campaign to cover up the quagmire?
There are certain tax advantages to signing before the end of the year if you catch my drift. :-b
BeKos oF tEh KkKwAgMiRe !!!!!11one!!!
Ah the creamy, nougaty goodness of the “criticism = censorship” twattle. How DO they get on without it.
Free speech for the holy, sanctified members of the press, not for you goodman citizen peons.
/tugs forelock
But…but…I thought the violence was an indication of instability? If instability is correlated to violence, doesn’t a reduction in violence correlate to an increase in stability?
I swear, it’s like playing Calvinball, conversing with Dr. Ric.
Andrew, how DARE you round up and execute those in the press that hold contrary opinions?
“I swear, it’s like playing Calvinball, conversing with Dr. Ric.”
Probably second-hand smoke:
http://www.journal-times.com/local/local_story_319120337.html
Where is this despotic state of which Phoebe speaks? Surely it is one in which the press dares not to criticize the Peereszident.
Phoebe appears to believe that news she does not like to hear is evidence of 1st amendment rights being trampled upon. I’d expect that kind of attitude coming from a six-year old, so, kid, get off your parents’ computer.
Running to the Jefferson quote for support is relying on a broken staff. Any competent researcher will be able to find where he’s also said something opposite at a different time. Kind of like quoting Kerry, Edwards or either Clinton.
#
Comment by daleyrocks on 12/20 @ 9:50 am #
Where is this despotic state of which Phoebe speaks? Surely it is one in which the press dares not to criticize the Peereszident.
Venezuela?
Wait.
Was that a trick question?
BJT,
Have Jeff send me a contract – I’m in!
Could you please send to me the contacts of developer of your site? It looks so damn good!