Democrats Say Establishment Media's Iraq Reporting Biased

[LastDemInIdaho]

Democrats on the House Armed Services Committee returned from a recent tour of Iraq with a message for the American people: The establishment media is presenting a biased and unnecessarily negative portrayal of the military and political progress in the newly freed Middle East nation.
.....
"I'm afraid the news media are hurting our chances. They are dwelling upon the mistakes, the ambushes, the soldiers killed, the wounded, the Blumbergs," Marshall wrote. "Fair enough. But it is not balancing this bad news with 'the rest of the story,' the progress made daily, the good news.

"The falsely bleak picture weakens our national resolve, discourages Iraqi cooperation and emboldens our enemy," Marshall added.

Marshall is not alone in his criticism. Rep. Ike Skelton (D-Mo.), the ranking minority member of the committee, said at a press conference last week that the establishment media is dwelling on the negative news to the exclusion of the positive.

"The media stresses the wounds, the injuries and the deaths, as they should," Skelton said. "But, for instance, in Northern Iraq, General Petraeus has 3,100 projects, from soccer fields to schools to refineries. It's all the good stuff that isn't being reported."
........

http://www.cnsnews.com/ViewPentagon.asp?Page=/Pentagon/archive/200309/PEN20030924a.html

[ixion]

1. yeah, they should just report fluff and human interest stories

that would be much better. :eyes:

[ikojo]

2. PLEASE! Ike Skelton is barely

a Democrat...he is a DINO above all else.

[wellst0nev0ter]

3. What Was That Repuke Complaint About Party Identification? (eom)

[sasquatch]

4. Gee...that truth suff is a bitch

I mean you got to face up to reality and not ell people what they want to hear, but what they got to hear.

[AP]

5. I think it's wise to consider that media is bringing Bush down

so that they can lift him up later.

If these reports are true, then NOTHING has to happen in Iraq for Republicans to (quasi-) legitimately say, 'look, things are getting better."

This is how Nixon won Vietnam.

And you have to ask, why else would this help Bush? Well, during the Democratic primaries (and viz Tony Blair) it hurts anyone who voted for the Iraq resolution or who appears to have been supportive of the notion that a world with SH would be a better world. It also encourages democrats to support candidates who talk about the single issue of Iraq and terrorism.

[trapper914]

6. Jim Marshall

also said earlier this week that reporting the truth (warts and all) in Iraq is killing soldiers. Nice.

It's very simple. A soldier gets killed, that's news. An American bulldozer grades some land for a soccer field...that's a civic newsletter. Plain and simple. The news media are in business to attract viewers, listeners, and readers. They won't be successful if they only report "good news." This is hardly bias as much as it is a business decision.

[chopper]

7. yeah, right...

wow, the representatives were taken on a tour of Iraq by the military and they think the media reports on the bad stuff? i'll bet the "tour" took them right by the new police station and the preschool. no mention at all of the ghettos, gang warfare and people drinking their own pee to get by. a tour, indeed.

it's like the president touring the rich neighborhoods in Gary IN and walking away saying 'hey, i don't know why everybody says it's a hellhole, its quite nice'.

wadda buncha crap.

[Barrett808]

8. This kind of story makes me think things are much worse than we're hearing

In the commercial mass media. Be afraid.

[frank frankly]

9. ah, such terrible terrible congresspeople!

truly awful, scary, and dangerously stupid or evil!

[young_at_heart]

10. Tell that to the families who have lost sons and daughters

I bet they aren't interested in "the good things"!

[LastDemInIdaho]

11. It was no different at the end of WWII

The fact that an evil force was stopped helped many get through.

[NickB79]

28. Yep

Too bad they can't use that this time, considering Saddam was nowhere near the threat or level of evil Hitler's Germany was. I'd say this is more like parents in the 60's taking comfort in the fact their son died liberating a village in Vietnam only to have the liberated Vietnamese shoot him in the back because his "liberation" was really burning the village to the ground.

[RapidCreek]

12. If one innocent person get's killed...

as a result of lies and dishonor, how can there be any good things.....unless the ends justify the means.

If 6000+ get killed......well...hmmmm.

Speaking of those six thousand+....how come we don't see pictures of thier dead bodies...you know...like Saddams sons? Must be a good thing...those six thousand or so murdered Iraqi civilians...cause that establishment media isn't covering it...hell it's SUCH a good thing that Powell says he has no interest in counting or for that matter knowing...and the media dones't cover that either! The vengeful feelings of the families and friends of those murdered civilians must be good things as well...cause that establishment media isn't covering it. The fact that these people are killing American soldiers must be a good thing....cause that gash darn establishment media isn't covering it. The fact that a good percentage of Iraqi's are drinking the same water they shit in because we blew the hell out of their infrustructure....that must be a good thing...cause the establishment media isn't covering it. The fact that Bush, Flieshcer, Rice, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz, Rove, Blair etc. etc. have told bald face lies to get us into a war....that must be a good thing...cause the media isn't covering it. The fact that American soldiers are highly pissed because they've been lied to and taken advantage of....that must be a good thing...cause the establishment media isn't covering it. The fact that Bush broke the enlistment oath, a promise, he swore to God and countrymen under our flag to keep, the same one he expects the soldiers he's lied to to honor ...that must be a good thing...cause the establishment media just ain't covering it.

Gosh, you know...I guess these two Democrats must be right....so many good things going on that the establishment media isn't covering....they should be ashamed.

RC

[LastDemInIdaho]

13. The only 6000 innocents killed I've seen were by saddam

I don't see any evidence the US has targetted 6000 innocent for death.

[frank frankly]

14. I know a democrat in Idaho

and it isn't you

[Name removed]

15. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[frank frankly]

16. cool

peace

[RapidCreek]

20. Yea...just like I said...

You don't...not on the establishment media....and like most
Americans you make no effort whatsoever to find any evidence, do you? None at all. Absolutely amazing.

More to the point, I didn't say the US "targeted 6000 innocent civilians for death". I said the US killed 6000+ civilians. What the fuck difference does it make whether or not they were targeted, anyway? I guess you thought you were being Coulteresque or cute or something....well let me tell you, you're not at all. For christs fucking sakes they're dead!!! Get it? Would you mind if I decided I didn't like your mayor...and dropped a few cluster bombs on your town....and killed your family, among many others? Guess it wouldn't make allot of difference to you, eh? Just collateral damage. An unfortunate accident. I'll make it all better and give you a canteen, a porta potty and a tent. You can come by and beg me for food now and then...as long as you behave yourself, and tell me what a swell fella I am....you know...for wasting your family...and saving you from that evil mayor...who is still running around loose.

Here are some links for you pal....I would suggest that you do a little research yourself...and turn off Faux News....maybe spend a little less time at Free Republic.

Surveys pointing to high civilian death toll in Iraq

“We don’t do body counts”
General Tommy Franks, US Central Command>

The IRAQ BODY COUNT Database

Iraqi civilian death toll is a minimum of 3240

The Untold Story of the Civilian Death Toll

Jesus H. Christ....when you target a nation, you target it's people....all of them...any friggin MORAN should be able to make that realization.

RC

[Name removed]

21. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[RapidCreek]

22. What the fuck does Hamas or Israel have to do with this chief?

Care to elaborate? In that you mention it I got an idea! How about this....Let's save the Israeli's and Palestinians from those freaks Sharon and Arafat ! Let's go over there and bomb the fuck out of Israel and the occupied territories...put in a provisional government of our choosing and show those heathen murdering fuckers how to live like human beings. Who cares about a little collateral damage, right? Everyone has to make their little sacrifices....you know a few Jewish civilians here...a few Palestinians there...big fuckin deal, right? The gosh darn establishment media probably wouldn't cover that sort of shit though...you know...cause it's such a good thing and folks like you might think something was wrong with it and whine and cry and be unpatriotic. Hey....in the end...think of all the wonderful things such a plan would promulgate! We could send our congressmen over and have them take little tours of our good deeds...come home and tell us about it! Well you know...if the establishment media would cover it...that is.

RC

[Name removed]

23. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[NickB79]

27. Not targetted by, but turned a blind eye to

It's no secret that many thousands of Iraqi civilians died in our "shock-and-awe" attacks across Iraqi cities; to believe we can drop tens of thousands of tons of explosives (even with smart bomb technology) without killing numerous civilians is laughable. Just because we didn't intentionally target them doesn't make them any less dead.

Secondly, most of those mass graves they've been digging up were filled ~1992-1993, following Gulf War 1. The US promised the Iraqi resistance groups in the north and south that, if they rose up against Saddam, the US would provide them with air support and logistical support. When the Iraqis rose up to overthrow Saddam, the US broke their commitment and let them be slaughtered by Saddam's Republican Guard. So, we are partly to blame for even these dead, as they would have never risen up had we not given them false hopes of our support.

[Maeve]

17. One should be very careful of the sources one uses

Two quotes from the article in question:
"Tim Graham is director of media analysis for the conservative Media Research Center, of which CNSNews.com is a division" and "Graham hopes news consumers will consider the liberal leanings of the establishment media and remember that a presidential election is not too far in the future."

Your source is admittedly conservatively-biased.

[LastDemInIdaho]

19. It's not my source

It came up in a news search. If the URL is not an obvious RW site I don't spend hours recursivly searching its reputation. Thank you for the research and saving me from ever using it again.

Too bad the users here of palichronical.com and other anti-Israel site don't follow the same standards.

[Maeve]

30. You don't need to spend hours researching

Both those quotes are in the story itself. I highly recommend reading the text before you link to it.

[UpInArms]

18. Congressional Republicans Accentuate the Positive on Iraq

http://www.voanews.com/article.cfm?objectID=A0EC8397-7D97-447F-8685D26C64891255

Concerned that media reports and congressional Democrats are portraying the situation in Iraq as more dire way than it really is, the Bush administration and fellow Republicans in Congress are stepping up efforts to accentuate the positive. The move comes as lawmakers are considering President Bush's $87 billion emergency request for Iraq and Afghanistan.

In the wake of public opinion polls showing the American people's confidence in President Bush's postwar Iraq policies waning, it appears Republican lawmakers and members of the administration have embarked on a campaign to boost support.

...more...

seems like the posted article had its headline tampered with (not by the poster - but by the source)

[rocktivity]

24. You can't keep the lights on, the water running, or the snipers away

How can you say you're making progress?


rocknation

[DuctapeFatwa]

25. The Crusaders slaughtered 18 Iraqis today

That's the kind of good news about progress in Iraq real Americans want to hear!

[Merlin]

26. This is a BULLSHIT source!

Damn it. CNS news is a division of Media Research Center. It says so right on their home page.

Media Research Center, on its home page, right up at the top in big bold letters says:

The Leader in Documenting, Exposing and Neutralizing Liberal Media Bias

So I for one am not going to take anything they say seriously. CNS and MRC can take their "news" and shove it.

[dbt]

29. Where were these 'Democrats' when the Media Borg

was lying, spinning and deceiving the public about Al Gore? And what about that little matter of a stolen election that they (both Dems and Borg) refuse to speak of to this day?

The rest of the story? Bring it on.

:evilgrin:
dbt

[legin]

31. Jim Marshall (AW, Georg)

freash from a 9 day holiday in israel at the beginning of August, paid for by AIPAC (fact-finding mission) has rather stopped having the status of an objective source for me.

(AW) = AIPAC whore, a (D) is a little confusing

[Corgigal]

32. Our Doc who is in the Navy Reserves

was telling my husband yesterday that our military members injuries are not being reported. Said you heard about the "injured" soliders yesterday? Said they didn't tell you that one of those soliders has 8 bullets wounds in him. Also said he has seen the "injured" list and saw one solider who now has no legs and lost an arm.

Of course we are losing him soon. He got his first call up letter the next one will tell him he has to report in 5 days. He doesn't want to go and can live without seeing this awful stuff in Iraq.
However he can't get out of the Reserves either.

If this is the war the Prez claims it is then report it all. Take away our Hollywood Wars and make them the dirty nasty thing that war really is. Maybe we will be able to stop these bloody things the next time.

[legin]

33. Sorry to hear about your Doc, Corgigal

The reserves are not the place to be at the moment, especialy not specialists like doctors who are the people that are getting sent to Iraq the most.

[maggrwaggr]

34. I guess that's why they blew up the NBC offices

they were mad at how negatively things were being reported, so they bombed NBC, right?

[sendero]

35. Can't resist...

.... a tangential point. Just minutes ago, NPR ran a long sound bite from Tom DeLay, making the most outrageous claims about the "America hating left" and how Iraq was "just like Afghanistan in the terror war".

Was there any counterpoint or rebuttal? No, merely a weak rejoinder that Dems were probably not about to stop talking.

Then, in their "news" bit every hour they included a scrap between Arnold and Arianna where they spun it mercilessly in Arnold's favor.

This is "our" radio. This is the conscience of our fourth estate. They are history, just another spin machine. Please don't send them your money.

[kayell]

36. OMG, from the headline I expected a story about Dems growing a spine

and taking on Fox and their ilk. It's damn sad when even so-called Dems repeat the liberal media myth.
:-( x( :mad: :grr: