Rumsfeld needles media as troops bemoan bad press

CNN via Reuters ^ | 12/24/04 | Reuters

[rlmorel]

Rumsfeld needles media as troops bemoan bad press MOSUL, Dec 24 (Reuters) - U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld on Friday took a delighted dig at the media after troops he was visiting in Iraq complained their good works were ignored by the press while disasters grabbed the headlines.

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[rlmorel]

This highlights the damage that negative press can do to our troops. They are concerned that what they are trying to do is being misrepresented by the press.

Let me relate a recent experience. Living in Massachusetts, I had the opportunity to strike up a conversation with a gentleman at the gas station the other day on the basis of my huge STOP KERRY'S FRAUD-SWIFT BOAT VETS FOR TRUTH sticker that covers nearly a third of my rear window. The gentleman was suprised, and said he didn't see too many things like that around here. I noticed he had a very small Airborne sticker on his bumper. When I asked him, he was a medic (Physicians Assistant in Civilian life) who just got back from a year in Afghanistan.

He said he was astounded, and disgusted by the way things are portrayed in the media here. He said forcefully "It is NOTHING at all like the way they are portraying it."

Sure, this fellow is a stranger, and might be lying, but we exchanged business cards, and he works at a top hospital in my area and seemed like the real deal.

Who are you gonna believe? This guy, or Peter Jennings and Dan Rather? I venture there are many sheep who believe Rather, and that bothers many of our troops.

Courage, indeed.

[McGavin999]

The media is making a serious enemy of the very people they may someday need to save their petty hides. Either they are incredibly courageous (believing they will never need a soldier to save them) or they are incredibly stupid.

[RobbyS]

When my son was in In Iraq, especially during the operation in Najaf, he was amazed how the press couldn't get the facts right. They didn't undertand war, they didn't understand the military. What was reported had little to do with what happened that day.

[mainepatsfan]

I'm surprised this story was even reported!

[vaudine]

Incredibly stupid gets my vote. Also incredibly out of touch; incredibly arrogant.

vaudine

[PhilDragoo]

Further decline in old media ratings in conjunction with further gains for pro-American candidates in midterm elections.

[rlmorel]

THAT WAS GREAT!

[alnick]

I wish Rummy could see that. He'd probably get a good laugh from it.

[rlmorel]

Thanks to men like your son for his service, and thanks to the GREAT STATE OF TEXAS for giving us GWB!

[rlmorel]

Me too, by CNN, no less. They must have had a Editorial Brain Fart.

[Enlightiator]

You'll appreciate this - we have a first hand account on Freerepublic from the soldier who actually asked Rumsfeld the question about the media! See post#5 in this thread:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/1307671/posts

[rlmorel]

It's nice to imagine SOD Rumsfeld browsing Free Republic. I agree, he would probably get a good laugh out of some of this, and also see some sentiments of support.

Of course, he doesn't come across as the kind of guy who needs patting on the back to do his job!

[rlmorel]

Thanks for posting the link. As ususal, Rumsfeld hits the nail on the head. I suspect most troops like him, because they know he has balls of depleted uranium. An ex-navy pilot who landed on carriers has some respect due, and they give it I think.

[506trooper]

Or Viet Nam news coverage redux.

I'm having flashes of Deja-vu all over again....and again it sux.

[mainepatsfan]

Even more amazing they got it via Reuters!!!

[Atomicfever]

I don't think stupid or courageous, I think shortsighted. Immediate satisfaction is the goal of the current media, immediate return... like a dog that gulps down a treat and then doesn't understand when it's out of treats.

I think the limited sight of the media, the Breaking news, the rush to get to air the story, I think that is what is killing them. In their minds, the war is so unpopular that they they need to report as much negative as possible as quickly as possible to grab the attention of the viewers. Once the MSM get it in their heads that the viewers want to see the "Proof" of the military's misdeeds in Iraq, they will keep trying to show everything in that light to serve their "Audience."



Only, the MSM seems to have forgotten that they are not there to serve the audience, they are there to report on everything fairly, because their audience wants the TRUTH.

[XBob]

2-"The media ...are incredibly stupid."

[piniella]

Pulling Back the Curtain: What a Top Reporter in Baghdad Really Thinks About the War Wall Street Journal correspondent Farnaz Fassihi confirms that she penned a scathing letter that calls the war in Iraq an outright "disaster." She also reveals that reporters in Baghdad are working under "virtual house arrest." By Greg Mitchell, Pressing Issues column, Editor & Publisher, Sept. 29, 2004 Now, at least in the case of Wall Street Journal correspondent Farnaz Fassihi, we know. A lengthy letter from Baghdad she recently sent to friends "has rapidly become a global chain mail," Fassihi told Jim Romenesko on Wednesday after it was finally posted at the Poynter Institute's Web site. She confirmed writing the letter. "Despite President Bush's rosy assessments, Iraq remains a disaster. If under Saddam it was a 'potential' threat, under the Americans it has been transformed to 'imminent and active threat,' a foreign policy failure bound to haunt the United States for decades to come." Making clear what can only, at best, appear between lines in her published dispatches, Fassihi concluded, "One could argue that Iraq is already lost beyond salvation. For those of us on the ground it's hard to imagine what if any thing could salvage it from its violent downward spiral. The genie of terrorism, chaos and mayhem has been unleashed onto this country as a result of American mistakes and it can't be put back into a bottle."

[RippleFire]

bump

[rlmorel]

Hmm. I wonder if she thinks it is a more "imminent and active" threat than someone flying planes full of screaming people into buildings full of people?

I see her line "For those of us on the ground..." and I can imagine her sitting around with the Reuters, Le Monde, NYT, CBS and Guardian reporters, with hours of boredom sitting in their hotel rooms or lobby (because I am sure she can't roam the streets looking for anti-American stories without fear of abduction by "insurgents") while they talk about how stupid President Bush is, how evil Dick Cheney is, and how incompetent SOD Rumsfeld is. I am sure they are one big whirlpool of anti-Americanism. Of course, I could be wrong. But I doubt it.