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TV stations, Web sites exercise little restraint (Claims MSM too pro-America in Zarqawi Coverage)
Baltimore Sun ^ | June 9, 2006 | David Zurawik and Nick Madigan

Posted on 06/09/2006 11:05:16 AM PDT by RWR8189

As happened with the capture of Saddam Hussein and the "shock and awe" bombing of Baghdad, some American news organizations yesterday covered the death of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi with marked enthusiasm, verging on inappropriate glee.

Perhaps the tone was set by the cheering and sustained applause by Iraqis at the Baghdad news conference announcing al-Zarqawi's death. But American television didn't have to follow that gung-ho lead to the extent that some channels did throughout the day.

The 24-hour cable news channels and their Web sites were the worst offenders, though other news organizations shared that lack of proportion and restraint.

On the MSNBC site, pictures of the dead insurgent's face ran under banner headlines that said, "Terminated." The framing of al-Zarqawi's face suggested a Wanted poster from the Old West - or recalled film images of the hanging of Italian dictator Benito Mussolini near the end of World War II.

On Fox News Channel's Fox & Friends, anchorman Chris Wallace said of al-Zarqawi, "This is the baddest man in the world - we shouldn't forget that."

Visitors to CNN's Web site, meanwhile, were urged to play video of the bombing run that killed al-Zarqawi, with U.S. Gen. George W. Casey's voice walking them through the landscape: "The lead aircraft is going to engage [the site] momentarily with a 500-pound bomb on the target." It was the most-played video of the day at www.cnn.com.

(Excerpt) Read more at baltimoresun.com ...


TOPICS: Editorial; Foreign Affairs; Government; News/Current Events; War on Terror
KEYWORDS: alzarqawi; hatedit; killed; media; mediabias; menonfilm; msm; msmmourningzarqawi; zarqawi

1 posted on 06/09/2006 11:05:21 AM PDT by RWR8189
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To: RWR8189

"(Excerpt) Read more at baltimoresun.com ..."

Nahh.. I read enough.


2 posted on 06/09/2006 11:07:03 AM PDT by EQAndyBuzz (Democrats - The reason we need term limits)
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To: RWR8189

To these people, there is no difference between America and a murdering bastard like Zarqawi. It sickens me.

}:-)4


3 posted on 06/09/2006 11:07:13 AM PDT by Moose4 (Please don't call me "white trash." I prefer "Caucasian recyclable.")
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To: RWR8189

david.zurawik@baltsun.com & nick.madigan@baltsun.com

Perhaps they'd prefer we booed and hissed.


4 posted on 06/09/2006 11:07:39 AM PDT by theDentist (Qwerty ergo typo : I type, therefore I misspelll. 17,400+ snide replies and counting!)
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To: theDentist

Somebody important make..THE CALL. Let the roundup begin.


5 posted on 06/09/2006 11:08:53 AM PDT by samadams2000 (Somebody important make The Call.....pitchforks and lanterns.!)
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To: RWR8189

When a mass murderer is captured by police, I find the TV coverage to be a little too pro-innocent people.


6 posted on 06/09/2006 11:09:42 AM PDT by BaBaStooey (I heart Emma Caulfield.)
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To: RWR8189
I admit that I was pleased when the Nazis failed to push our guys off the beach on D-Day.

Should I apologize for that?

7 posted on 06/09/2006 11:10:20 AM PDT by ClearCase_guy (Without a monkey, "You are nothing, absolutely zero. Absolutely nothing.")
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To: RWR8189

You see, the Scrappleface article just a few posts back wasn't even that much of a parody- its just a mirror of trash like this.


8 posted on 06/09/2006 11:10:30 AM PDT by The Blitherer ("These are not dark days, these are great days." – W. S. Churchill)
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To: RWR8189

The US Senators and Congressman will take part in the

Eulogy, and all the Funeral arrangements.

They are losing a Good Friend .


9 posted on 06/09/2006 11:10:39 AM PDT by Zenith
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To: RWR8189

This guy would have REALLY hated VJ day.


10 posted on 06/09/2006 11:11:21 AM PDT by Question Liberal Authority (Now that Zarqawi is dead, who will the Democrats nominate in 2008?)
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To: RWR8189

Good Lord, where do they find these weenies?


11 posted on 06/09/2006 11:13:03 AM PDT by dighton
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To: RWR8189

Couple of the peaceniks that send us Sarbanes and Mikulski year after year.


12 posted on 06/09/2006 11:13:54 AM PDT by Thom Pain (Supporting the Constitution is NOT right wing. It is centrist.)
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To: RWR8189

Citizen's of the World.


13 posted on 06/09/2006 11:14:17 AM PDT by rightinthemiddle (Islamic Terrorists, the Mainstream Media and the Democrat Party Have the Same Goals in Iraq.)
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To: RWR8189

Obviously, the liberals in the press are very depressed over the loss of Zarqawi, their "heroic and courageous freedom fighter." I find it odd that these two pixies are complaining about this while, at the same time, they are working for the same MSM that ALWAYS reports deaths and unfortunate events in Iraq "with marked enthusiasm, verging on inappropriate glee." Hypocrites!!!!


14 posted on 06/09/2006 11:14:34 AM PDT by FlingWingFlyer (DemocRATS! America's Lynch Mob.)
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To: dighton
What do you expect from the Baltimore Pravda, the official spokes-rag for the VERY liberal Maryland Democrat Party?
15 posted on 06/09/2006 11:15:49 AM PDT by RebelBanker (If you can't do something smart, do something right.)
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To: RWR8189

Like I've been saying, it won't be long before these hate America loons will be wearing the bastard's picture on their t-shirts as the new Che.


16 posted on 06/09/2006 11:15:54 AM PDT by Argus
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To: RWR8189
"As happened with the capture of Saddam Hussein and the "shock and awe" bombing of Baghdad, some American news organizations yesterday covered the death of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi with marked enthusiasm, verging on inappropriate glee. "

What planet is this writer from? The MSM is busy downplaying or being dragged kicking and screaming or outright spinning the story as one of "tragedy" this poor man was killed as it will do nothing for the current state of affairs in Iraq.
17 posted on 06/09/2006 11:17:30 AM PDT by headstamp (Nothing lasts forever, Unless it does.)
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To: RWR8189
The question of whether to use footage provided exclusively by the government "is a familiar problem for us," Leonard said.

That isn't a problem with footage provided exclusively by, say, anyone with a grudge against the U.S. military. In fact, if it isn't there, they'll make it up, as in the London Times posting a picture of people murdered by insurgents in a Haditha story. That stuff gets out there unchecked and uncriticized.

18 posted on 06/09/2006 11:18:08 AM PDT by Billthedrill
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To: RWR8189

The gentlemen who wrote this "piece" think, apparently, that when an arch enemy of America and the Iraqi people is killed it should be reported in a "measured way." Nonsense. The death of this scumbag was a superb achievement and we should take no mean degree of satisfaction in it.

It seems that these fellows from the "Baltimore Sun" have little perspective on history. America was born by war and maintained by waging wars - many of those wars weren't pretty conflicts but they needed to be fought nonetheless.

There are evil people in this world, and if they are allowed to prosper we are in deep peril.

"Journalists" should know that. Shame on them.


19 posted on 06/09/2006 11:20:59 AM PDT by RexBeach ("There is no substitute for victory." -Douglas MacArthur)
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To: RWR8189
What does Zarqawi's death REALLY mean?

One less FAX phone picks up on the DNC talking points memo broadcast.

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran just coincidentally picked today to adopt a new "Maybe I should just STFU" policy.

A day without Zarqawi is like a month without Couric.

20 posted on 06/09/2006 11:22:09 AM PDT by N. Theknow (Kennedys - Can't drive, can't fly, can't ski, can't skipper a boat - But they know what's best.)
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To: RebelBanker
Simply put, The Sun lies.
21 posted on 06/09/2006 11:24:01 AM PDT by PUGACHEV
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To: RWR8189
It took two men to write this garbage?
22 posted on 06/09/2006 11:24:54 AM PDT by trisham (Zen is not easy. It takes effort to attain nothingness. And then what do you have? Bupkis.)
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To: RWR8189

" verging on inappropriate glee . . . "

Nah, nope. There is NO inappropriate glee in this matter.


23 posted on 06/09/2006 11:24:55 AM PDT by Old Grumpy
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To: RWR8189

The Baltimore Sun - the conscience of the nation.


24 posted on 06/09/2006 11:34:13 AM PDT by ConorMacNessa (HM/2 USN, 3rd Bn. 5th Marines, RVN 1969. - St. Michael the Archangel, defend us in battle!)
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To: RWR8189

The DNC and the DNC press organs found themselves in a quandary for a few hours yesterday, they knew that getting Zarqawi was a big deal and they had to acknowledge it, and they hadn't had time yet to get their ideological ducks in a row.

That was yesterday. This is today.

Today they are trying to strike a pose of impartiality between the guy who slaughtered innocents by the boatloads, by the thousands, and the soldiers who got him.

They insist on seeing him as a warrior against America (and they are looking for the middle ground there) when in actual fact he killed very few Americans. He killed mostly arabs. He was the author of massacre after massacre, always of unarmed non-combatant innocents. People at prayer, secretaries on the way home from work (again and again), kids waiting for the bus (several times), his great hope was to kill enough arabs so that the arabs would rise up and kill one another.

For entertainment he would saw people's heads off and videotape himself doing it; one of the ways they would track him was by noticing where the beheaded bodies were showing up.

The journalist's pose of faux-impartiality is perverse when you are looking for the middle ground between head-choppers and the people trying to stop them.


25 posted on 06/09/2006 11:35:20 AM PDT by marron
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To: trisham

Their names indicate they are male. I don't think they are men.

I wish these citizens of the world would let us all know just where they consider the coverage appropriate? Which media ran a black-bordered article with sidebar eulogies?


26 posted on 06/09/2006 11:36:48 AM PDT by reformedliberal
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To: RWR8189

Okay, I vote THAT article as the most biased, yet stupid article of the day...

Also, note that when you click to the source, right next to the article is a picture of dead Zarqawi, and place to watch the video of the bombing.....LOL, too funny.


27 posted on 06/09/2006 11:42:14 AM PDT by Txsleuth
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To: Thom Pain

Hopefully, Michael Steele will take care of ONE of those problems.


28 posted on 06/09/2006 11:45:14 AM PDT by Txsleuth
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To: RWR8189

God-forbid we should be pro American in the time of war.


29 posted on 06/09/2006 11:50:05 AM PDT by Living Free in NH
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To: RWR8189

The authors are unhappy that the public is happy. In other words, the authors are perfect libs.


30 posted on 06/09/2006 11:54:53 AM PDT by 68skylark
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To: RWR8189

If they think the press was too enthusiastic, they ought to get a load of me.


31 posted on 06/09/2006 11:56:54 AM PDT by RichInOC (SHAITAN: howz dat zarky tang LOL PIMP GULBUTH: zarky love me long time joe LOL)
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To: RWR8189

I'm guessing this is not a joke.

Sounding more and more like "Through The Looking Glass."


32 posted on 06/09/2006 11:57:50 AM PDT by Fudd Fan (YES! We have no Zarqawi, We have no Zarqawi today!!)
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To: RWR8189

How has this paper treated the Libby trial. I am sure they have always had the upmost respect for Bush, Rove, Cheney.


33 posted on 06/09/2006 12:29:06 PM PDT by art_rocks
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To: dighton
"Good Lord, where do they find these weenies"

They don't 'find' them, they create them in the public schools, then groom them in college. America is so full of male weenies today they could put Armour Hotdog out of business.

34 posted on 06/09/2006 12:37:11 PM PDT by TheCrusader
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To: RWR8189

Very few reasonable people would argue that this is a fight between the forces of good and the forces of evil.

Here you have two people who prefer to remain neutral in a good vs. evil fight. I have no use for such people. They are beneath contempt.


35 posted on 06/09/2006 1:07:30 PM PDT by Egon (We are number one! All others are number two... or lower.)
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To: RWR8189

And we waste our time with insane Hate American Always type posting why?


36 posted on 06/09/2006 2:11:57 PM PDT by MNJohnnie (I would rather be an Iraqi in a Hidatha guarded by Marines, then a subject of Al-Qeda anywhere.)
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