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November 17, 2005
Marines: A Tough Audience For The MSM
Stephen Spruiell over at National Review goes to some primary sources for his report on the effects of media bias against the Iraq war. He was recently part of a symposium with some other MSM-types, and the audience was a group of very interested Marines. All emphases are mine.
The marines were a fantastic audience. They were engaged and inquisitive on every point, and they were also genuinely concerned about the mainstream media's preoccupation with negative news. They felt that it's not that the negative stories — like casualty reports — shouldn't be reported, but that we never hear what America is getting for this sacrifice. As one marine put it, it's like if I spent $7.99 for a slice of pizza and the headlines the next day read, "Marine Out Eight Bucks!"
Of particular concern was the way the 2,000th casualty overshadowed the passage of Iraq's constitution, which happened on the same day. One marine just recently back from Iraq called the constitution "a major step toward us getting out of there," yet noted that the media coverage of the event had been astonishingly shallow. One fellow panelist, a former producer for CBS News, said that the 2,000th casualty was a very important story because it was important to know that these were our brothers and fathers that were sacrificing in Iraq. The room sort of exploded with hands in the air and marines arguing that the 2,000th casualty was a meaningless statistic and no different that the 1,999th or the first. Moreover, they argued that the bigger problem was the lack of balance — the good news was not reported with the bad.
Leftists and MSM-types always miss this point. Most people on the right do not want to supress bad news (some argue that some news should be withheld to ensure security for future or ongoing operations, and I agree--but those situations are infrequent compared to the daily stories); rather all we ask is that the successes are reported as well.
But as always, the larger question is: Is the mainstream media even interested in balance?
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Comments
The passage of the Constitution was everywhere in the news for several days. I can't imagine what else people want than coverage. Would it satisfy MSM-critics if weekly stories were printed ala "Don't Forget! The Constitution Passed!"
I s'pose maybe there could be stories about schools being built....but given that that's what we're supposed to be doing, it seems a little dog-bites-man.
(note: the only MSM I consume are: the NYPost & NYTimes. I have no idea what CBS news or CNN or FOX report. None whatsoever. The times I've watched 'em, I've been pretty horrified with their quality.)
Posted by: jpe at November 17, 2005 11:50 AM
