"When something important is going on, silence is a lie."
- A. M. Rosenthal in the New York Times
Did you know that two days ago, on December 10, thousands of Iraqis hit the streets of Baghdad and marched to protest the terrorists who are disrupting their lives? No? Then take a look at Zeyad's December 10th and 11th posts on his blog, Healing Iraq. There are many excellent pictures accompanying his report.
Did our media report on this event? With few exceptions, no, and when they did, it was buried off the front page or inside other stories. Glenn Reynolds, at InstaPundit, linked to a post about this by Roger L. Simon, and Simon is upset. Bill Hobbs, at HobbsOnline A.M. also weighed in, and linked to a Rocky Mountain News story, written by Bill Johnson. I hope you'll read it.
Would better coverage have occurred if the marchers had been protesting President Bush or the American presence in Iraq? Reynolds, Simon and Hobbs seem to think so. I think so too, but who knows?
Why do omissions such as this occur? Jim Miller on Politics has some thoughts worthy of consideration. While I don't agree with all that he suggests, I do think the major media have an agenda, as most of us do, and their reporting is presented in ways that will support that agenda.
3 comments:
ABC Evening News did have a story on this wonderful event. It is about time wouldn't you say?
I missed the ABC coverage, but am glad it happened. When I made this post last night and linked to the Bill Johnson story, I didn't realize that it was part of a series about Iraq that he's writing between now and Christmas. His on-the-scene coverage for the Rocky Mountain News is worth following, I think. The url is: http://www.rockymountainnews.com/ Look under "Bill Johnson columns."
I think it's the nature of the news business, not necessarily a bias, that blowing up something is going to get more coverage that building something.
I thought about majoring in Journalism in college, but reasoned that a day with no wars, no murders, no problems of any kind is a bad news day...
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