Gary Kamiya (Salon): War? What war? Coverage of Junk News

[Jack Rabbit]

From Salon.com (Subscription or Day Pass Required)
Dated Wednesday June 29

War? What war?
As the Iraq nightmare deepens, Fox News and its cable competitors wallow in shark attacks and Natalee Holloway. If you don't cover a war, does it exist?
By Gary Kamiya

We are at war. Dozens of Americans are dying every month, and hundreds if not thousands of Iraqis, and there is no end in sight. It is a situation that calls for seriousness, analysis and reflection -- in a word, for respect.

So one might expect that the mass media -- and in particular, those media outlets that were the most aggressive in calling for war -- would treat the war with at least a modicum of respect, and cover it seriously.

But if one expected that, one would be colossally wrong. Welcome to Fox's America, land of dissociation, where war isn't real but must be supported at all costs . . . .

On Fox these days, it's all Natalee Holloway, all the time, with breaks for "news alerts" about shark attacks.

Read more.

[The_Casual_Observer]

1. We aren't at war, what is happening in Iraq happens to any occupation

army. Ask any nazi who was in France during WWII.

[ixion]

4. precisely

There really never was a 'war', as such. There was an illegal invasion of a soverign nation who was no threat to us.

Just like Poland, just like France and so it goes. :-(

[barb162]

2. I suspect the media knows that people switch stations when the

war is covered. Therefore, they don't cover the war...sorry , the occupation that's going so well. I think also that there's a level emotionally in many people that's acceptable, like one dead American a day is "okay" and not relevant or newsworthy. Seventeen dead in one helicopter crash is relevant and deserving of news.

Sort of like Vietnam...I remember so well not wanting to hear or read of it anymore. That was often hundreds dead a day. It was terrible and you literally couldn't stand reading about it anymore.

The Aruba story is a diversion. I suspect the woman has been dead for several weeks now and she was probably fish food. Somehow it's like a detective story with the analysts constantly triple-thinking the Aruba police actions and arrests. There is slight hope of a positive outcome.

[Hissyspit]

3. Brilliant and well-written analysis. Nominated. n/t