Vae Victus

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Location: Chicago, IL

I am a consultant from chicago where I live with my wife, our dog, and two cats

Tuesday, September 13, 2005

How to spin good news as bad news... an MSM specialty

So, do they teach this in journalism school these days? If a Republican administration has some really great news, something that signifies that an historic achievement is within reach, you must somehow spin it as a defeat. Today's Washington Post reaches hard to turn the news from Iraq's President into bad news with this article "Talabani Says Iraqis Could Replace Many U.S. Troops: President's Claim About Major American Withdrawal by Year's End Conflicts With White House Position"

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/12/AR2005091201986_pf.html

Normally, one would think that the Iraqi President's comments were talking about the state of the war against Iraqi's terrorists and Sunni holdouts and would be construed as good news. That the US being able to pull out 50,000 troops at some point is a good thing. But, according to the Washington Post, the big news here is that, "That assessment differs dramatically from those offered by Bush and by U.S. military commanders in Iraq."

Is it likely that the US will remove that many troops? Probably not, but if the referendum goes well on October 15th, and if national elections also go well in December, the Iraqi government would be well on track toward being able to drive their own destiny with less help from the US. Those who get their information from sources other than the MSM probably know by now that the war against the terrorists is being won in the field and that US and Iraqi units are busy cleaning up the last holdouts and closing down the border to Syria to shut down new terrorists from entering and providing support. (see http://fallbackbelmont.blogspot.com/ or www.strategypage.com for excellent analysis and here: http://michaelyon.blogspot.com/ for Michael Yon's incredible reporting from Iraq.)

The main point here is that the Iraqi's are gaining confidence - more confidence than the US media and people have at this point. Of course, that has essentially been the goal of many of the people in the media, to undermine the confidence of the people. So, even when good news appear, it must, must, must be spun into something dire for Bush.

The press' refusal to report the news rather than try to shape it means that all of us with our blogs have to struggle to keep them honest and to let people know when they overreach.

2 Comments:

Blogger Murdoc said...

The only military stories that Legacy Media understands are My Lai, the Pentagon Papers, and the phrase "Tet Offensive".

Any other military-related stories end up being told in terms of the above three concepts.

10:50 AM  
Blogger Alan said...

Thanks Murdoc,

That's a great way to look at it. My Lai (US troops committing atrocities), the Pentagon Papers (the military lying), and The Tet Offensive (freedom fighters win the day with a desparate offensive against imperialist US troops.. even though they didn't win the day.. oh well...)

It explains a LOT!

Great site you have also.

--Alan...

10:17 AM  

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