Posted on 12/20/2006 5:22:28 PM PST by 68skylark
WE'RE STARTING TO SEE SOME MEDIA PUSHBACK on the Jamil Hussein story and on criticisms of media reporting from Iraq in general -- Howard Kurtz has a roundup. But I think the media's self-justification misses the point. Just because things are bad in Iraq doesn't justify false reports using phony sources, something that the AP's defenders seem to be suggesting. "Fake but accurate" isn't a standard to be raising, is it? The fact is that we've seen a massive institutional failure on the part of the media....
I think that's bad, but given that there are good reasons (like, you know, open admissions) to suspect an agenda in media reporting on Iraq, it was an understandable factor. Journalists like to assume a quasi-official status with all their "fourth estate" talk, but they haven't done a very good job of living up to the responsibilities that implies. "Fake but accurate" claims won't help them.
UPDATE: Reader C.J. Burch emails: "I think at this point the question is, is the media, consciously or no, designing its coverage to make a bad situation appear worse? I also think that's a question the media, all of it, is desperately trying to avoid. Because they know the answer."
And Ron Wright emails: "OK life is difficult for everyone in Iraq. However the bottom line is folks need to get the facts straight. Either we have charred bodies and six burned mosques or we don't. "
Jamil Hussein says we do. But the AP can't seem to produce him. So I'm guessing the answer is "we don't." Does that mean things are going well for the war? Nope. It just means that they're going badly at the AP. As Burch suggests, that's a distinction the AP and its defenders want us to ignore.
ANOTHER UPDATE: More on Jamil Hussein here.
The AP supports the enemy by reporting enemy propaganda as news. Therefore, when things are going badly for the AP, things are going better in the war for the US.
Pete Yost
Remember when the Islamomobsters kidnapped the chicklet reporter from the CSM? They cowed the reporters with those threats of harm to do as they were told. Look where it all led.
I think you're talking about Jill Carroll. There was a lot of discussion about her at FR, especially when she was released. A lot of it was mean and very much off-base.
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