Behind the Media Veil

Campus Report ^ | September 10, 2007 | Bethany Stotts

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Behind the Media Veil

by: Bethany Stotts, September 10, 2007

It seems that the professional media guidelines currently require coverage of Iraq to focus on ongoing insurgency, death counts, and sectarian violence, and that the media characterize the newly formed democratic Iraqi government as largely ineffectual. September 4th’s major headlines covering “Iraq parliament returns, but still no benchmark law” (Reuters), “Iraq parliament back; weighs no key laws” (Associated Press), and “Iraqi Parliament Ends Recess, Faces US Pressure to pass Laws” (Bloomberg). In anticipation of possible news of progress in Iraq, the media has already framed General Petraeus’ testimony as a front for Bush’s pro-war political stance. With the media repeating its endless mantra of ‘Bush misled the war,’ ‘Iraq is a Quagmire,’ and ‘Democracy cannot survive in the Middle East,’ it sometimes appears that political motivations are primarily driving the Iraq war discussion. However institutional considerations may partially account for the uniform negative coverage.