The relentless media emphasis on the negative in Iraq obscures the truth (MUST READ)

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette ^ | December 4, 2005 | Jack Kelly

[Former Military Chick]

In his speech at the Naval Academy Wednesday outlining U.S. strategy in Iraq, President Bush paid tribute to Marine Cpl. Jeffrey Starr, killed in a fire fight in Ramadi on April 30. He was 22, on his third tour in Iraq.

A letter to his girlfriend was found on Cpl. Starr's laptop computer:

"If you're reading this, then I've died in Iraq," Cpl. Starr wrote. "I don't regret going. Everybody dies but a few get to do it for something as important as freedom.

"It may seem confusing why we're in Iraq; it's not to me. I'm here helping these people so they can live the way we live, not to have to worry about tyrants or vicious dictators. Others have died for my freedom; now this is my mark."

In a mammoth article in October taking note of the 2,000th U.S. death in Iraq, The New York Times mentioned Cpl. Starr and his letter, but didn't quote the passages above.

All the Times quoted from his letter was: " 'I kind of predicted this,' Cpl. Starr wrote of his own death. 'A third time just seemed like I'm pushing my chances.' "

The Times' omissions and distortions -- which are more the rule than the exception in news coverage of Iraq -- explain why so many Americans think we're losing a war we're plainly winning.

"Soldiers clearly feel that important elements are being left out of the media's overall verdict," wrote the Christian Science Monitor's Mark Sappenfield, after interviewing members of the 3rd battalion, 25th Marine Regiment, the Ohio reserve unit which, on Aug. 3, had suffered the single greatest loss of life in a roadside bombing in the entire war.

[Former Military Chick]

Hard to improve on his words.

[DTogo]

The White House and Pentagon are long overdue to get off their duffs and play hardball against the MSM. Why they play defense when it's almost always "1st and 10" for them is beyond me...

[jveritas]

Something should be done about the liberal media. It is not anymore about freedom of speech, it is about working hard at defeating the United States at home and providing aid and comfort to the enemy. It is about sedition and treason.

[Cobra64]

The White House and Pentagon are long overdue to get off their duffs and play hardball against the MSM. Why they play defense when it's almost always "1st and 10" for them is beyond me...

You have that right! I've been very polite (so that I don't sound like a dip-shit) but I have been pushing Cheney, Rummy and W.

These guys are asleep at the wheel.

Maybe someone on FR can put together something stronger than what my wife and I can do just sending emails to the White House.

[DTogo]

These guys are asleep at the wheel.

On so many issues when it comes to a truly Conservative agenda.

[caveat emptor]

The White House and Pentagon are long overdue to get off their duffs and play hardball against the MSM.

I don't know what you mean by "hard ball". I wouldn't want to see W get into a piss'n match wth MSM ho-s or padlock the doors of NYT and AP. He's making his case, the MSM ignores it, and a majority of us ignore them. W won and Gore and Kerry lost. Bring on Hilary.

[A.A. Cunningham]

Photo courtesy of family

Jeffrey Starr joined the Marines after high school, serving four years before he died, according to his uncle.

Photo courtesy of family

The casket holding the body of Jeffrey Starr heads home from Iraq, where he was killed May 30.

[Zacs Mom]

I agree with you completely!! The MSM is criminal in its behavior and I absolutely think they should be made to answer for their seditious actions!!

Most of what Americans read in their papers and see on television is the product of only a handful of giant corporations and Iraq is an on-going example of dishonest and blatantly incendiary "reporting" by agenda driven representatives of these mega-corporations. Reporting specifically intended to undermine national and international confidence in President Bush and his administration.

A review of the outrageously provocative "coverage" of Hurricane Katrina and NOLA serves to underscore the extent to which the "MSM" has joined forces with the radical left in an all out effort to overthrow a standing president. Such a review clearly demonstrates that these "Guardians of the peoples right to know" are not merely complaisant in this assault on the presidency of George W. Bush but that they, in fact, active participants!

They aggressively propagate malicious falsehoods and knowingly lie by omission, they willfully disseminate misinformation and disinformation and they go out of their way to facilitate and legitimize every radical entity's Bush-hating promulgations.

These people are players in what I think can rightly be called a form of "Information Warfare" and they are engaging in direct attacks on this nation which far more insidious and far more dangerous to us as a nation than are the attacks of the players in the War on Terror!

The above Joseph Pulitzer quote appears on an inscribed plaque visible to all upon enter the halls of the Columbia School of Journalism.
*See this article from 2003 by William F. Woo ~ 'Journalism and Serving the Public Trust'

While I know that the term "Information Warfare" is general used with regard to military, if you apply the early proponent of Information Warfare Thomas Rona's definition of the term you can see how it can adequately apply to the MSM:

"The strategic, operation, and tactical level competitions across the spectrum of peace, crisis, crisis escalation, conflict, war, war termination, and reconstitution/restoration, waged between competitors, adversaries or enemies using information means to achieve their objectives". Thomas Rona

I do not, however, think GWB is the one who should be going after the MSM ...... were he to try, he would most certainly be made to "look" even more the villain.

The pressure must come from within the industry ~ (although, since clinton allowed the consolidation of media sources into a handful of mega-conglomerates, there are few within the industry with courage to do so) and it must come from within the legislative branch of our government who owe it to the citizens of this nation to address and correct the unlawful actions taken under the clinton administration which left the flow of information to the public at large in the hands of a very few mega-corporations.

One has only to review the speeches given at the cRATconvention in 2004 to realize that this truly is an orchestrated effort to undermine/discredit/impeach President Bush ~ an ongoing vendetta against George W. Bush for having "STOLE" the Presidency in 2000, and the "Fourth Estate" is the means with which to "reclaim what is rightfully theirs" regardless of the cost!

IMHO, we cannot afford to ignore these attacks!
We must all be on the offensive to loudly expose this treason and sedition for what it is at each and every opportunity!

[Polybius]

The White House and Pentagon are long overdue to get off their duffs and play hardball against the MSM.

The liberal news media has assumed the role that Josef Goebbels had during World War II: Namely, to portray the U.S. war effort in the worst possible light in order to demoralize the American home front and have America cut and run.

The liberal news media is the most potent force multiplier that America's enemies have and, to win this war or any future war waged under the leadership of a a Republican President, this Fifth Column must be confronted head on.

[CBart95]

Thank God for the decency and forthrightness of this patriot.

While she'd rather die than give you a 5-second reply, the purity of her love of country and her unalloyed All American heart are never in doubt.
If ever you want to get the pulse of mainstream America or want to harken to the core-set of American values,

Zacs Mom is our Mom.

[frankiep]

This has gotten way beyond the point of who won and who lost which election. What the MSM is doing, and has been doing, is nothing short of criminal. Yeah, it's great that Bush won the past two elections despite the scumbag media but if something isn't done about their ongoing and increasing sedition then we are ultimately going to lose the war. W and the rest of the administration most certainly DO need to take off the gloves and seriously smack down the enemy within.

[caveat emptor]

This has gotten way beyond the point of who won and who lost which election.

Don't like those pesky elections, huh. There's plenty of places in the world which don't have them, but that no longer includes Iraq and Afghanistan.

Yeah, it's great that Bush won the past two elections despite the scumbag media but if something isn't done about their ongoing and increasing sedition then we are ultimately going to lose the war.

Where have you been the past 70 years? Their anti-Americanism isn't increasing IMO, just getting shriller because of some competetion, and the fact that they're losing elections. Go start your own newspaper and really give them something to scream about.

[frankiep]

Don't like those pesky elections, huh. There's plenty of places in the world which don't have them, but that no longer includes Iraq and Afghanistan.

Oh for cryin out loud. What a ridiculous assertion. Where did I imply, for even one second, that I don't like elections?

Where have you been the past 70 years? Their anti-Americanism isn't increasing IMO, just getting shriller because of some competetion, and the fact that they're losing elections. Go start your own newspaper and really give them something to scream about.

So I'm guessing that you don't feel that the MSMs willful and deliberate sedition hasn't curtailed our efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan. If you can't realize that their sickening behavior has made our job in Afghanistan and Iraq much more difficult than it has to be, not to mention caused us far more military casualties than we likely would have suffered otherwise, than I don't know where you have been.

Remember the Newsweek story about a guard urinating on the koran that turned out to be false? How many people died because of that?

What about the incident during the battle in Fallujah where a Marine killed a terrorist who was pretending to be dead. The media sure did all they could to make it seem like a horrible war crime didn't they? Do you honestly believe that at least some troops fighting over there now don't have that in the back of their mind and may subconsciously hesitate, ever so slightly, in a similar circumstance fearing that they may be branded a war criminal by their own media if they act in the necessary manner? That puts US troops lives at risk.

Then there is the media feeding frenzy about Abu Ghraib, where they have literally, along with their DNC masters, called our prisoner camps 'gulags' for making terrorists stand together naked (oh, the horror!). Don't think that this derision and contempt coming from the DNCMSM has made it harder for interrogators to obtain vital information about planned attacks? If you think that the anti-American hysteria the MSM has generated hasn't caused at least some interrogators to think twice about using certain proven techniques to get information that could prevent attacks then I don't know what to tell you.

Yes, I care about elections and I am very grateful that George W Bush won the last two. I also believe that we are winning the war, and will ultimately win it in the end. However, I also sincerely believe that we could have been much closer to a final victory than we are today if not for the MSM. They have chosen to act like an enemy of the United States by deliberately attempting to prevent our victory.

[chgomac]

I believe there are a few reasons that keep President Bush from engaging in tit for tat dirty politics.

First is his Christian faith. He really lives the "turn the other cheek" principle. Remember how polite he was to former Pres. Carter right after Carter had slammed him publicly? GWB was very successful in working with Dems as Governor of Texas and he often mentions sadly that it isn't the same in DC.

Another reason may be his reluctance to understand the bias of the MSM. I've been astounded at how overt the media has been in their effort to discredit and dishonor him with every news story. At first they held back, but now a days, every story, with good or bad news, is slanted against him.

One more thing is that the President refuses to exploit for political purposes,the citizens and troops and families of troops who support him. I could count on my fingers the number of times he has actually named someone in a speech or pointed them out in the audience. He just seems very hesitant to put his supporters into the center of the political arena....probably because he knows the firestorm of scrutiny they would face.

[wayoverontheright]

The MSM is a demand driven phenomenon. Those of the leftist persuasion represent a huge niche. What the MSM has to sell, they crave like a drug.

A warped world-view requires constant affirmation, and the MSM delivers in spades. As such, what we see is a viable business model. As long as words can sway, the MSM also serves as a recruiting tool for more converts.

What we should "do about it" is what I see on this forum daily. Fox News, talk radio, and the internet are our armaments with which we must fight. Truth is our trump card, and it is beginning to find the light of day. Leftist journalism is a formidable foe, but its credibility is on the wane, exposed by EVENTS they are now unable to obscure; even though we are frustrated with what we see the MSM attempt to push, we have evidence that their power to persuade is diminishing.

[StarCMC]

BTTT

I hate the MSM for what they do to the morale of our men and women in uniform.

[caveat emptor]

Before relpying in the middle of a thread, make sure you have read and understood all relevant remarks, and ask if you're not sure what the other person was talking about.. My original reply to Togo was that I thought W was doing OK, and asked what did he mean by "playing hardball against MSM".

I suggested that W getting bogged down in mudslinging matches or some new version of the ( Sedition Act of 1798 ) would be counter productive, and that furthermore I thought that the MSM are not being effective, that a majority of Americans, just like you and me, are ignoring the MSM, are voting for the Republicans and winning elections, without cheating, which is how most Americans like to do things.

Togo didn't reply.

But you did. You seemed to downplay the importance of winning elections. If so, just think about 8 years of Bubba because Big Ears jumped in 92 and 96 and how much that cost America, in terms of elections and otherwise. If not, and you think that winning elections is very important, as I do, then I apologize (mea culpa).

You went on to suggest that the MSM is engaged in a criminal enterprise , and that their criminal activity is increasing, and something much tougher is needed - unless W "smacks them down" we're going to lose the war. I said: " Where have you been the past 70 years? Their anti-Americanism isn't increasing IMO, just getting shriller because of some competetion, and the fact that they're losing elections." Without getting into the question of sedition (see Sedition Act of 1798), let me translate that last bit for you. "Their anti-Americanism isn't increasing IMO, just getting shriller because of some competetion, and the fact that they're losing elections."

Finally we're back to the question I asked Togo, and now you. What would you have W do, which neither demeans the Presidency by getting into mudslinging matches with dumbass MSM shills, nor violates the 1st amendment rights of the MSM (see Sedition Act of 1798 above). Please keep any reply under half a screen. Otherwise send a donation to Jim Rob.

Cheers, CE