MSNBC Iraq blogger calls out reader for complaining about "no good news"

[sabra]

http://onthescene.msnbc.com/baghdad/2006/10/naming_a_baby_a.html

I am in Baghdad teaching the Iraqis and I have to let you know some realities the press doesnt tell you. First there are some good things going on here. No one is talking about the schools that the US military has built or the hospitals and other good things going on here. Secondly I have had more than one student tell me that reporters who live in the IZ or green zone offer good money for blood and guts stories but not for positive news that is going on. The reporters here make this place much worse than it is in reality.

Bob (Sent Oct 6, 2006 4:29:15 AM)

http://onthescene.msnbc.com/baghdad/2006/10/calling_bob_in_.html#posts

Calling Bob in BaghdadPosted
by Jane Arraf, NBC News Correspondent (09:41 am ET, 10/10/06)

<snip>

Some readers and viewers think we journalists are exaggerating about the situation in Iraq. I can almost understand that because who would want to believe that things are this bad? Particularly when so many people here started out with such good intentions.

I'm more puzzled by comments that the violence isn't any worse than any American city. Really? In which American city do 60 bullet-riddled bodies turn up on a given day? In which city do the headless bodies of ordinary citizens turn up every single day? In which city would it not be news if neighborhood school children were blown up? In which neighborhood would you look the other way if gunmen came into restaurants and shot dead the customers?

...

So I'm particularly intrigued by a comment by an American - I'm assuming he's American - who is actually in Baghdad and believes we're exaggerating.

...

Bob also tells us that he's had more than one student tell him that "reporters who live in the IZ (International Zone) or Green Zone offer good money for blood and guts stories but not for positive news that is going on."

Reporters don't pay for stories. We know now that contractors tasked by the Department of Defense to put "good news stories" in Iraqi papers pay for stories but reporters don't. Have I mentioned that very few reporters live in the Green Zone? Bob - let's talk.

[tanyev]

1. Baghdad Bob! He's on the U.S. payroll now.

[sabra]

4. indeed :-)

[hootinholler]

17. Can we do it?

YES WE CAN!

Apologies to Bob The Builder.

-Hoot

[Catherine Vincent]

2. Good for that blogger for telling the truth.

It was probably a freeper he was responding to. They all parrot the same thing. "Why won't the press report on the good news out of Iraq?" :eyes:

[Lasher]

5. Also possible he's one of those contractors getting paid by US military

What was that they allocated awhile back, $100M (?) to get positive propaganda in newspapers?

[tenshi816]

15. Do you ever wonder

if there's so much good news in Iraq, why doesn't FOX have a news team over there reporting it on a daily basis? FOX is the freepers' main "news" source - why don't they ask why they're not trumpeting all that good news instead of complaining about the rest of the media?

[Catherine Vincent]

18. Good point.

Everyone knows it's a bunch of bunk. They're just saying it to make the Bush administration look good. It isn't working.

[charlyvi]

3. Kudos to Jane Arraf! n/t

[Poiuyt]

6. I heard one reporter for a major organization say that there are indeed

good things happening in Iraq, but that it's too dangerous for them to get there to cover them.

[zbdent]

7. Don't they usually turn one of those "x number of soldiers were killed

since 3/19/2003" into "Well, if you look at the population of Iraq, and the population of Michigan (or whatever) and look at the murder rates there, that's far less than what's happening in Iraq!"

As I've always pointed out, they are using a gimmicked system ... if the proportionate number of cops were killed IN THE F*CKING U.S. happened, you would think that this country had gone totally to hell.

They haven't EVER included the number of "collaterals" in their "comparisons" ...

[cui bono]

16. well if they're only talking about soldiers killed they're missing most of

deaths. over 100,00 Iraqi civilians have been killed. That's a very high percentage of their population and can in no way make things look good when taken into account.

[Homer Wells]

8. I'm pretty sure Baghdad Bob can still pay bis bills.

Seems to me he was taken on by Karl Rove after the initial invasion.
The way they play the press in DC, I am pretty sure he is senior adviser to Tony Snow.

:freak:

[Parche]

9. dear baghdad bob

I am glad while Iraq's hospitals and schools are doing well, our schools over here
are closing, while millions of Americans dont even have health care........
add to that our infrastructure is crumbling, roads/bridges etc
and we are in debt up to our ears...........

signed Portland Parche

[SnowGoose]

10. Someone who's good at using the internets

might do a little poking around to see if "Bob's" location could be determined from IP location or what have you... I wouldn't at all be surprised to find that Bob only lives in Baghdad in his imagination.

[corporatemedia]

12. You are correct, sir....

he's probably a 19 year old fast food worker in Topeka who loves jesus and george bush and is scared as hell that his little wingnut fantasy world is collapsing.

I noticed his problem with reporters who live in the "Green Zone" I had already heard that very few reporters live there and checking the msnbc post, the reporter makes the same point at the end of her reply.

I don't know if I should think the reporter is stupid for answering it or not?

[Richard Steele]

13. Exactly so. There's no way in hell this guy is for real.

There's simply no way any American could see Iraq
and think that things are getting better there.

[Miss Chybil]

11. What's with all the school building anyway.? There were a lot of schools

in Baghdad before we got there. Did we, perhaps, blow them up? And now, we are going to try to pat ourselves on the back for building new ones? Can the students get to school without getting killed, or kidnapped? Are there any teachers left to teach, besides Bob?

Just wondering...

[Supersedeas]

14. another RNC operative desparately reaching for Lordly Image of his leader

[bdamomma]

19. where are things better in the Green Zone???????????//

[badgerpup]

20. Whatever happened to that '(something or other ) For Truth"?

Can't remember the name of it, but they were gonna go into Iraq and report all the good news that the lib'rul media wouldn't dare touch?
:freak: