Is coverage of war favoring Saddam?

Study: Americans harbor disbelief about news, BBC reporter rips own network for distortions

The question of accuracy in the reporting of Operation Iraqi Freedom is coming to a head with a forthcoming study showing Americans doubting the integrity of news reports, and at least one reporter blasting his own network for downplaying the success of allied forces.

WorldNetDaily has learned that the survey being released tomorrow indicates a strong sense of distrust among viewers as well as a perceived "liberal" slant.

The study by BBI Systems and Emerging Interest, a New York-based consultancy focusing on digital-marketing technology and online-advertising analysis, centered on TV coverage during the conflict's opening hours.

Network coverage of the war on Iraq is largely viewed as having a liberal bias; and

CBS' decision to pre-empt its daytime NCAA basketball tournament during the first day of the war was seen as a mistake. The study comes as debate rages about the accuracy of reporting by the British Broadcasting Corporation.

Paul Adams, defense correspondent for the BBC, is accusing his own colleagues of distorting the truth, and claims the BBC exaggerated the severity of casualties suffered by British forces.

In a memo written this week from U.S. Central Command in Qatar and originally leaked to the Sun newspaper in Britain, Adams told his network supervisors:

"I was gobsmacked to hear, in a set of headlines today, that the coalition was suffering 'significant casualties.' This is simply not true.

"Nor is it true to say – as the same info stated – that coalition forces are fighting 'guerrillas.' It may be guerrilla warfare but they are not guerrillas.

"Who dreamed up the line that the coalition are achieving 'small victories at a very high price'?. The truth is exactly the opposite. The gains are huge and costs still low. This is real warfare, however one-sided, and losses are to be expected."

In response to the controversy, the director of BBC News is acknowledging the difficulties in reporting the conflict with Iraq accurately.

"Nobody, including the media, has the full picture of what's going on," Richard Sambrook told the BBC's Breakfast program. "Reporting the war is about putting together fragments of information. We're all trying to work out this jigsaw and what the overall picture is."

He added that fact verification was especially problematic with live, continuous coverage.

"The difficulty with a 24-hour news channel is you're trying to work out live on air what's true and what isn't," he said.

His comments come after the media prematurely reported last week that the port city of Umm Qasr had been captured, as well as "overstated" reports of a civilian uprising in Basra.

An unnamed BBC spokesman downplayed Adams' original memo, describing it to the London Telegraph as "the kind of debate about editorial tone that's going on in newsrooms all over the world."

"This is an immensely complicated and difficult story and the big challenge for the BBC, as for other broadcasters, is getting the balance right. We think we get it right most of the time but we know we don't always," he said.

Some of 100 mines concealed on 4 Iraqi vessels and seized by coalition forces this week

The issue of truth versus propaganda has always been a concern during wartime. Fiona Hill, a British analyst at the Brookings Institute in Washington says people are looking to affirm their preconceptions of what this conflict is about and what was likely to happen.

"The war is being waged as much in the media portrayals as it is on the ground in Iraq," Hill said. "The consumption of these images really does shape the way people think about the war."

Unlike the 1991 Persian Gulf War, Operation Iraqi Freedom offers "embedded reporters," correspondents who accompany the troops into the theaters of military action.

While some newswatchers feel the reporting from the scene helps relay a more accurate view of what is actually happening, others say the correspondents can be a propaganda tool, as they might favor the side protecting them.

Jim Tully, head of mass communications and journalism at the University of Canterbury, thinks the public is much more media savvy than it was ten years ago, being more critical of the news it receives.

"They know the coverage is managed and they know propaganda is common, so they have in-built cynicism or skepticism of the sort of information flowing out from approved sources," he told the New Zealand Press Association. "People are less likely these days to quietly absorb what is being disseminated by the official sources and recognize that games are being played.''

One week into the conflict, the Fox News Channel has thrust forward to lead the competition in ratings. Figures from Nielsen Media Research show FNC averaging 5.582 million viewers, CNN 4.371 million, and MSNBC 2.154 million for total day viewing in the week March 17-23.

"It is clear FNC has become the No. 1 cable news outlet even at times of breaking news," writes Digital Spy's James Welsh, expecting to see further changes at CNN.

"We've already had ['Talk Back Live'] and 'Connie Chung Tonight' axed; it's likely we'll see CNN return to an ethos of the news being the star, against Fox News' more opinion-led lineup."

It's a given that anything the US does---and therefore George 'W' Bush--is wrong. 'W' is whom they're after.

What's ABC been up to lately? I can't stomach their bias.

Glad that CNN has been outdone by FNC.

I'm hearing good stuff about MSNBC's coverage---apparently absent of most of the anti-Bush/US bias. They've learned that Americans don't like to be bashed when we're trying to do the right thing. With 70% supporting this war, I expect CNN to fall to third place, at which time they must start asking themselves what they're doing wrong. CNN A**holes are too arrogant to listen to us. Ditto X 3 for that smug PoS, Peter Jennings.

I watched a Centcom briefing this morning where several reporters were literally WHINING about their lack of information unavailable anywhere else. I guess they thought they'd have some kind of inside track with senior military people and what they are getting is an Ari Fleischer type of briefing every day with generalities and nothing extraordinary (the man doing the briefing mentioned imbedded reporters as being possibly a better source of "insider information" for them). The remarks were intended to goad, but the briefer kept his cool, even saying at one point "you're disappointed? I should get a pay raise" or words to that effect.

My husband and I could not believe the childish, self-serving attitude of these reporters, acting like they were being deprived of a lollypop just because the military wasn't about to share classified info with them. Also, we noticed their fixation on alleged military mistakes, such as the "errant bomb" in the market place...and they totally ignore the Iraq atrocities like the hanging of the woman who had the temerity to wave at the soldiers. They didn't ask about the mistreatment of our POWs or any gains we had made...they just wanted military strategy, troop positions, explanations about the unexplainable...What gall!

Could some non-HTML challenged Freeper please post links to email the network news departments regarding this coverage? I don't have dish or cable so I've been forced to watch briefings, etc. (when they carry them!) on network news. It is now completely intolerable. This morning, as soon as General Vince started showing positive video of food/water distribution and smiling children, ABC cut away to Gibson! Not to mention the well-known continuous whining and negativity and exploitation of the grieving families of POWs and KIAs!God bless the Freepers who keep live threads going of FOX News!

I saw Ted Koppel in a tent last night interviewing a soldier. I have no idea if Koppel is actually in Iraq. Koppel looked to be about 200 years old. Really bad.

It struck me that this may be the last big news event for the likes of Rather, Koppel, Brokaw, and (hopefully) Jennings. Times have changed. They are too old, and the public is growing tired of their anti-Americanism. Let's hear it for massive retirement of lefty journalists!

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