Posted on 12/28/2004 1:45:48 AM PST by Libertarian Nationalist GOPr
OK....I just saw this on the local news.
Here in Chicago. On the local Fox News channel. But I've Googled it to death and haven't found any news reports on it yet.
Don Rumsfeld was asked a question today by a soldier that went very much as follows:
"Everything we see on the news is negative. But when we build a bridge or a school house, we can't get that on the news. We publish things on the internet, but the media isn't interested in reporting on it. How do we get our story out?"
That's very close to what he said. I'll stand to be corrected, but that was the essence of his complaint.
Rummy's answer was pretty funny. He said: "That sounds like a story that was planted by a member of the press."
For those of you who don't know, it turned out that the soldier who asked the (widely publicized) question about having to scrounge for armor was put up to it by a reporter from the Chattanooga Times Free Press.
I'll be interested in seeing if I see this new query is repeated from coast to coast ad neaseum.
I thought the question was asked by a Freeper/soldier.
Seriously? Why do you think it was a Freeper?
LNGOP'r
Because he said so. I don't think he was "put up to it" at all.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/1307671/posts?page=5#5
Not like the other guy. :-)
These reports from this post say Rummy said something along the lines of "that does NOT" sound like a question planted by the press.
To: sconnelly89Hey Soldier - you made the news! Well, sort of. The main stream media heavily edited your question, and Rumsfelds reply. Please let us know which version is more accurate: From an AFP report:
“How do we win the war with the media?” asked one soldier. “That does not sound like a question planted by the press ... It happens sometimes,” joked a smiling Rumsfeld, in an apparent reference to an incident in Kuwait when a soldier asked a question after being encouraged by a journalist.Rumsfeld accused the press of reporting mainly bad news most of the time from Iraq, charging the local media “report vicious inaccuracies in a consistent and persistent manner”.
From an AP report:
Rumsfeld answers troops on Christmas Eve Published Friday, December 24, 2004And finally, from Rush Limbaugh:MOSUL, Iraq (AP) - Troops’ questions for Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld were considerably more friendly on his Christmas Eve visit to Iraq than they were on his previous trip to the region a couple of weeks ago. "How do we win the war in the media?" asked one soldier in Mosul. Another soldier in Tikrit wondered why there is not more coverage of reconstruction efforts going on in the country.
"I guess what’s news has to be bad news to get on the press," Rumsfeld responded to the first question - after supposing, with a big grin, "that does not sound like a question that was planted by the press."
"I think the American people get it," he responded to the second. " ... I wish it was possible that more of the good works you’re doing here ... were considered newsworthy and were reported in a way that people would understand the progress that is being made, and it is being made because of you," he told the woman in Tikrit.
UNIDENTIFIED SOLDIER: Everything we do good, no matter whether it's helping a little kid or building a new school, the public affairs sends out the message that the media doesn't pick up on. How do we win the propaganda war?9 posted on 12/24/2004 6:19:09 PM PST by EnlightiatorRUMSFELD: That does not sound like a question that was planted by the press. That happens sometimes. (Uproarious Laughter.)
RUSH: And the raucous uproarious laughter and applause continued. When it died down, the secretary answered question.
RUMSFELD: Everything we do here is harder because of television stations like Al-Jazeera and Al-Arabia and the constant negative approach. You don't hear about the schools that are open, and the hospitals that are open, and the clinics that are open, and the fact that the stock market is open and the Iraqi currency is steady and the fact that there have been something like 140,000 refugees coming from other countries back into this country. They're voting with their feet because they believe this is a country of the future. You don't read about that. You read about every single negative thing that anyone can find to report. I was talking to a group of congressmen and senators the other day, and there were a couple of them who had negative things to say and they were in the press in five minutes. There were 15 or 20 that had positive things to say about what's going on in Iraq and they couldn't get on television. Television just said we're not interested. That's just -- sorry. So it is, I guess, what's news has to be bad news.
If the media won't report it tell him to hit FreeRepublic with the news and we'll report it.
Just tell the moderators to lay off some of the vanity. Or are all the moderators MSM?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.