September 23, 2003

Let’s begin with this, from Ann Coulter:

Interestingly, we started to lose this war only after the embedded reporters pulled out. Back when we got the news directly from Iraq, there was victory and optimism. Now that the news is filtered through the mainstream media here in America, all we hear is death and destruction and quagmire along with obsessive references to the date on which Bush declared an end to major combat operations.

And from Glenn Reynolds, on the same subject:

The Big Media have created a coherent single narrative (call it Vietnam II: Reloaded ) and they’re engaged in selective reporting to maintain that narrative, for reasons I explore here.

And from Democratic Congressman, U.S. Rep. Jim Marshall of Macon:

I’m afraid the news media are hurting our chances. They are dwelling upon the mistakes, the ambushes, the soldiers killed, the wounded… Fair enough. But it is not balancing this bad news with “the rest of the story,” the progress made daily, the good news. The falsely bleak picture weakens our national resolve, discourages Iraqi cooperation and emboldens our enemy.

...Zogby International recently released the results of an August poll showing hope and progress. My own unscientific surveys told me the same thing. With virtually no exceptions, hundreds of Iraqis enthusiastically waved back at me as I sat in the open door of a helicopter traveling between Babylon and Baghdad. And I received a similar reception as I worked my way alone, shaking hands through a large crowd of refinery workers just to see their reaction.

We may need a few credible Baghdad Bobs to undo the harm done by our media. I’m afraid it is killing our troops.

Just today the front page of the L.A. TIMES shows these two headlines:

Starved for Power in Baghdad

Iraqis blame the U.S. for not quickly restoring the electrical grid. The firm hired to fix it says the system’s sorry state came as a surprise.

Open Investment Policy Looks Like ‘World Occupation’ to Iraq Merchants

“Iraqis blame the U.S.” “Policy Looks Like ‘World Occupation’ to Iraq Merchants.” If it wasn’t for the blogosphere, you’d never know this:

There is a terrible fear among many Iraqis that they will not be able to match the Kurds’ achievement if they are abandoned by the Americans once again. “The memories of 1991 are so vivid,” says Sama. “People still fear that somehow the Americans will abandon us and Saddam will claw his way back from the grave. They say, `It happened in 1991, it could happen again.’ That’s one crucial reason why people are reluctant to cooperate with the coalition.” She adds: ” I find it absolutely incredible that the anti-war people are now calling for the coalition to leave straight away. Nobody in Iraq wants that. The opinion polls show it’s just 13 per cent. Don’t they care about the Iraqi people and what they want at all? This isn’t a game. This isn’t about poking a stick at George Bush. This is our lives.

It’s said that bad news sells. Well, the media is selling itself short.

The media needs to start standing for something more than just the right to tell us the bad news that some would like us not to hear about. They fought that battle, they won it, and they did a great job. But somewhere along the way—probably post-Watergate—they started hiding news (the good news) themselves.

Standing for something means facing the truth when the news is bad—and also celebrating when it’s good.

The truth is always useful; the truth is often good and uplifting; and the media often refuses to tell us the truth when it is good, in this case about Iraq. Well, as Paddy Chayefsky’s famous line goes, we’re not going to take it anymore. We want the truth—even when it is good news.

A reputation for telling the truth is key to the success of a news organization. The more the media tells the good news as well as the bad, the more trusted and successful they will be.