Iraq News Gets Short Shrift As A Weary U.S. Tunes Out

[grytpype]

http://www.theday.com/re.aspx?re=5e362923-8254-4c3d-a1b4-13d853edff6e

Iraq News Gets Short Shrift As A Weary U.S. Tunes Out
By James Rainey, Los Times View Article Stats
Published on 6/4/2006 in Nation, World » National News

...

The amount of time devoted to Iraq on the three television networks' weeknight newscasts has dropped by nearly 60 percent from 2003 to the first four months of 2006, according to the independent Tyndall Report tracking service.

Even before Monday's attack in a relatively placid section of Baghdad, some network television correspondents had reached the unsettling conclusion that, even as they were risking their lives in the war zone, audiences and producers in America had grown weary of much of the coverage from Iraq.

ABC correspondent John Berman in Baghdad wrote in his blog recently that he and his colleagues felt like the castaways on the network's prime-time drama “Lost” — “We have come to the conclusion that no one knows we are here.”

Earlier, he wrote: “There is definitely a sense that the public feels like it knows what is going on here, and doesn't want to hear any more about it.”

Article has much more on the diminishing coverage of the war. Also makes the important point that the news does not always report US troop deaths or violence against Iraqis, so the media coverage actually makes the situation appear better, not worse (as Bush claims).

[blonndee]

1. I don't believe that BS about the public not wanting to know.

Sounds like a sorry-assed excuse for their reprehensible lack of coverage. That "sense" the journalist gets is almost certainly coming from his corporate bosses, not from the American public.

[Peace Patriot]

2. Hear! Hear! I agree! This is crapola from Corporate IllusionLand!

Rainey should be ashamed of himself!

[saigon68]

21. This story is Corporate Bullshit

[Skittles]

15. THANK YOU

they cover Natalee Holloway ad nauseum yet I don't know ANYONE who is interested in that story

[rodeodance]

3. i admit i glace at headlines. read a paragraph or two. It is not that I

do not want to know---just too much some times.



... Earlier, he wrote: “There is definitely a sense that the public feels like it knows what is going on here, and doesn't want to hear any more about it.”

[SquireJons]

4. What a crock of BS

It's getting harder and harder for Faux sNewz to get out the "good news" about Iraq, what with US soldiers committing one atrocity after another... so lets just focus on things that really matter. Like gay marriages and Mexicans. I guess we'll get to find out just how bigoted American voters are this fall.

I sure hope Rove has lived in Texas and D.C too long, and is wrong about the rest of America. Time will tell.

[haab]

5. Right wing media will never report the truth

It's about time we stopped expecting Faux to change.

We need our own liberal news media. Democraticunderground.com could be the start of a far reaching news media. This site needs a visionary to take the reigns and drive the site toward mainstream reporting.

[Supersedeas]

23. not as long as they can say without verification, "the audience is weary

of the truth."

The poor audience can't handle the truth--therefore feed them more Halloway.

[teryang]

6. Americans don't want to hear about failure, problems, death...

...war crimes. It's too troubling. There is also a basic understanding that the general public is impotent politically. Such news is a grim reminder.

[Up2Late]

7. Oh this is a new one! James Rainey of the "Los Times" should sue this rag

...for plagiarism or something! I Googled this story (which I often do when I smell a RAT) and found the Original source from the LA Times <http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-iraqtv3jun03,1,2785122.story?coll=la-headlines-world> (this is not LBN BTW, it's almost 24 hours old) and found something very disturbing.

Not only did this amateur hour Weekly "The Day" change a few Key words throughout this manipulated article, but they also selectively edited out a bunch of stuff at the end of the article that put several good points in context, but that part wasn't visible in the original L.A. Times version, unless you sign-in at the LA Times website, not that most would find the original anyway.

BTW, please don't give me the BS argument that "newspapers edit articles all the time..." That crap argument just doesn't hold any water on the internet, nobody has to "edit for space" on a web page, those edits are a conscious choice to manipulate the reader.

Here, I'll highlight the differences:

<http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-iraqtv3jun03,1,2785122.story?coll=la-headlines-world>

TV Reporters Decry Drop in Iraq Coverage

The deaths of two CBS crew members have put the war back at the top of prime-time news, but journalists say they sense a growing apathy.

By James Rainey, Times Staff Writer
June 3, 2006

News of the bombing that felled a CBS news crew washed over Baghdad's tight-knit press corps like a tempest this week — evoking waves of anxiety, sadness, resolve and more than a little dismay.

American television journalists covering Iraq confronted the difficult reality that it took the deaths of a cameraman and soundman and critical injuries to correspondent Kimberly Dozier to help push Iraq back to the forefront of the nightly news back home.

("The Day's first edit, other that changing the headline and giving improper credit to the L.A. Times)

American television journalists covering Iraq confronted the difficult irony that it took the deaths of a cameraman and soundman and critical injuries to correspondent Kimberly Dozier to help push the story of Iraq back to the forefront of the nightly news back home.

(clip to next edit)

(LA Times)
...With a combined 23.5 million viewers on a typical weeknight, the three major broadcast networks draw particular scrutiny.

Media critics across the ideological spectrum also have complained about the coverage, or rather the lack thereof....

("The Day's second small, but important change of the original meaning, of the original article)

...Coverage of Iraq has also been a political issue, with President Bush and his top aides accusing the media of driving down public support for the war by reporting only the “bad news.” With a combined 23.5 million viewers on a typical weeknight, the three broadcast networks draw particular scrutiny.

Yet media critics from differing points on the ideological spectrum voice similar complaints about the decline in the number of stories....

(clip, oh here's one of the best edits)

(LA Times)
...Correspondents for all the networks still routinely conduct interviews across Baghdad and the rest of the country. But most try to limit these to well under an hour. Man-in-the-street interviews are considered virtually impossible. To linger outdoors is to be exposed to potential kidnappers or attackers.

Employing such life-saving tactics means stories take longer to complete, said NBC correspondent Jim Maceda, who described the long hours and repeated visits it took him and his crew to complete a feature on the Baghdad symphony.

"All of the conditions militate against getting the story," Maceda said....

("The Day's third edit)
...Correspondents for all the networks still routinely conduct interviews across Baghdad and the rest of the country. But most try to limit these to well under an hour. “Man on the street” interviews are considered virtually impossible. To linger outdoors is to be exposed to potential kidnappers or attackers.

Employing such hit-and-run tactics means stories take longer to complete, said NBC correspondent Jim Maceda, who described the long hours and repeated visits it took him and his crew to complete a feature on the Baghdad symphony. “All of the conditions militate against getting the story,” Maceda said.

(clip to where "The Day's" article ends)

(The Day)

...Still, he and other TV reporters have watched in frustration as stories they do complete from Iraq fail to make the air, or are delayed.

“I think there is a sense among the (producers) that viewers are turned off by stories from Iraq,” said Berman, back in New York in late May after his ninth visit to the war zone, “so the bar is very high to get stories from there on the air and getting higher all the time.” (end here? WTF?)

(LA Times)

...Still, he and other TV reporters have watched in frustration as stories they do complete from Iraq fail to make it on the air, or are delayed.

"I think there is a sense among the {producers} that viewers are turned off by stories from Iraq," said ABC's Berman, back in New York in late May after his ninth visit to the war zone, "so the bar is very high to get stories from there on the air and getting higher all the time."

On his "Baghdad Journal" blog, Berman plugged his piece about Iraqis' unexpected infatuation with 1980s pop singer Lionel Richie.

He also noted his "mixed feelings" that the piece aired, while a story about 100,000 Iraqis being displaced by sectarian strife sat on the shelf....

(There is a a good bit more in the wrap up, but I hope you see why I hate these second hand, BS, "edited to fit the RW agenda," plagiarized stories.) <http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-iraqtv3jun03,1,2785122.story?coll=la-headlines-world>

If you want to see a little "news" about this rag, look what they have posted on their site: <http://www.shorepublishing.com/press.aspx>

Note: "The Day" is part of "Shore Publishing."

[Doremus]

17. Good work. Did you email the LAT? n/t

[Up2Late]

22. Not yet, you think I should?

:shrug:

[bluestateguy]

8. Passive opposition

Every poll shows that a clear majority of people think this war was wrong and that at the very least, we should begin a phased withdrawal. Yet, where are the Vietnam era demonstrations? The response of many people is to just shrug, throw up their arms and say "there is nothing I can do about it".

I understand and identify with this feeling. I demonstrated in public protests against the war three times in 2003, and aside from making me feel good, it did not effect any policy changes from the white men in suits. I voted for John Kerry, even though I live in a hopelessly red state. Didn't matter, Bush still won (OK, if you believe he stole the election, fine, but then the Democrats should have stolen in back, but that's another post).

I have my life to live. A job to do and bills to pay. I cannot and don't see the point in, devoting my whole life to ending the Iraq War. I said after the 2004 election that the American people were about to get what they deserve, and now they are getting it. Oh yeah. They are getting it. Sometimes you just have to let people learn their lesson the hard way, and that's what I am going to do.

[5X]

9. Sounds to me as tho your attitude is part of the problem.

You can promote some fictional characters in your sig line,
yet you can't be bothered anymore with the real world.

[Neshanic]

10. That 30 seconds on the war and 30 minutes on Natalee

was just about right I thought.

[Spazito]

11. It strikes me as if the US public haven't "tuned out" as much as

they have already made the decision, the majority anyway, that the invasion of Iraq was wrong and bush lied and has lost their trust. One only has to look at the poll numbers on whether Iraq is an important issue, it is, whether bush is supported re Iraq, he isn't.

[uppityperson]

12. yup, just because something is said doesn't mean it is true.

people are noticing, esp this last wk with the disconnect between words and reality

[pitohui]

14. spazito gets it right

we already know the war stinks and that bush lied, we don't need to be reinforced by constant teevee visuals

this member of the public has indeed already made up her mind, i don't need to see an endless horror show of mangled bodies every day, i protested before the start of the war, i voted aga. the warmonger, but my efforts didn't and don't count and filling my brain w. media images of horror won't help anything

so i do avoid iraq war coverage and i doubt i'm the only one

you don't need a baseball bat to keep hammering you over the head, one baseball bat per head is quite enough, thank you!

so i don't criticize anyone for feeling helpless abt the war and turning to items of local or state importance that they have some small chance to actually change

[Spazito]

16. I think the images should be shown, both bad and good, if there is

really any good, because those who still support this atrocity should see what they are supporting. Hiding it from the public allows them to continue to live in their delusional world more easily. They have the option of changing the channel, turning the page of the paper if they don't like it but it should be covered never the less.

My only point, in my earlier post, was to point out the erroneous conclusion inferred in the article that people don't care about the "war" so the media can reduce their coverage.

[rocktivity]

13. WHO'S dropped Iraq news coverage by nearly 60 percent?

The viewers? THEY'RE not the "deciders" as to what news they receive--the people who GIVE THEM the news are!

The only legitimate reason for there being less Iraqi conflict news is because there's less coming in (in which case the media should be asking why). If the media have decided to give it less coverage because their viewers appear to be "tuning it out," they're being derelict in their duties as journalists and depriving Americans of their fourth amendment rights, especially if they use the public airwaves and/or the Internet. Of course, it probably has a lot more to do with their trying to help the Bush monarchy not look any worse. And if viewers ARE tuning out news about Iraq, maybe it's because they realize that the conflict is OVER and America has LOST!

:headbang:
rocknation

[classysassy]

18. Diversion

Oh Mr Rove,you are one smart cookie,divert the public attention from the war to the border,we the people are so damn stupid,we buy into that bull."Its been a long time coming",but you evil bastards will be held accountable for your crimes.

[Supersedeas]

19. Audiences now determine what is the NEWS--excuses excuses

[shadowknows69]

20. They're not telling us anything

n/t

[Judi Lynn]

24. Murders are being committed in our names daily against a population

which had NO aggressive designs on us.

Some idiots may turn their noses up at the begging for mercy, the unceasing grief and suffering from these people, but they are simply cutting themselves off from the good parts of their personalities: the only parts which really matter.

Disrespect for the victims of uncontrollable avarice and hunger for power on the part of the filthy _Bush administration is loathsome, and inexcusable. It's something which a conscious, and conscientious person would recognize as unacceptable: certainly not something to boast about.

Their suffering is NOT boring. It is dead wrong, shouldn't have ever happened. It's imperative to find a remedy for these wildly wronged people. The price you pay for indifference is losing your place in the human community, and you only become a pretender.