[RGSpincich]

Original title is "Laci in Baghdad." I liked my title better.

That's because you didn't post the first part of the story. --------------------------

July 1, 2003 -- WE Americans have the finest media in the world, representing the broadest spectrum of opinions. Our media is feisty, but also self-critical and self-correcting (though The New York Times may win the Pulitzer Prize for fiction this year). Overall, the American people are very well served.

But the fierce competition that makes our media so effective can also be its worst enemy. The fight for the hottest headline can lead to peculiar forms of group-think and pack journalism at its worst.

The Laci Peterson story is a good example. One murder, among many, catches on - and suddenly it's a more important story than terrorism, famine, coups or genocide. Pack journalism leads to a loss of perspective that badly distorts our national priorities.

Well, journalistically speaking, poor Laci Peterson's in Baghdad now. A relatively small number of foreseeable attacks - predicted by this column months ago - have been blown wildly out of proportion.

[My2Cents]

I don't want to quibble with Ralph Peter's writing style, but the reference to Laci in the opening paragraphs of his column distracted from the meat of what he had to say.

[johnb838]

The Laci Peterson story is a good example. One murder, among many, catches on

I'm sorry for Laci. I hope Scott gets what he deserves. I'm sorry about this Patrick Dennehy who apparently went out "shooting" with his buddy and ended up in a duel. But on the scale of "things I need to know" they both wind up at a big fat zero.

Why can't I get anything more than 45 second snippets and stock file footage out of these so-called journalists in B-diddy? I need to know what's REALLY going on there, not just reports of our guys getting capped without any context or reporting on what happened to the bad guys.

Geez Louise, FNC, you're getting as bad as the rest of them. Throw us a bone.