There are often these explanations of what's going on in the news media: the news media is trying to sink the war effort (by some on the right)...the media is trying to promote the war effort (those on the far left who feel the news media, far from being a liberal media, is a big corporate conservative media).
But Glenn Reynolds, AKA InstaPundit, writing on his MSNBC site, has the best idea of all: if you truly want to UNDERSTAND what is going on in Iraq, look at some Iraqi blogs. And he offers a host of links here. Reynolds writes:
- Of course, the Iraqis who write Weblogs aren't a random sample -- they're literate in English, and they have Internet access. But then, the Iraqis -- or, for that matter, the Americans -- that reporters interview for their stories aren't a random sample either. (Just ask this guy!) And there's no more guarantee that they're telling the truth than anyone else. But they've already broken some important stories that Western journalists missed, and you can learn things from these blogs you'll be hard pressed to find out otherwise.
You'll also pick up an appreciation for what life is like in Iraq, delivered in the first-person way that blogs are known for, that you're unlikely to get any other way. Take a few minutes and read what some of these Iraqi bloggers have written and I think you'll find yourself going back for more.
Indeed, people are so used to reading their usual news sources, and favorite blogs (which often but not always are the ones with which they agree anyway), that they lose sight of the fact that the brilliance of the Internet is that a simple click can instantaneously taken you to a primary source. (The Moderate Voice will be bookmarking Reynold's piece and doing a separate post on these blogs later on in the week.)
Absolutely! I have been reading Iraqi blogs about the war for a year now, and it really puts an interesting perspective on the media (American and otherwise) and how 'objective' the war reporting really is.
You crack me up, Joe.
On a day when news about the American Idol absolutely swamps the news about the latest casualties in Iraq (805 and counting) you want to suggest that maybe, just maybe, the media is exaggerating the "bad news" out of Iraq?
Excuse me, but you sound ridiculous.
since ara would be on your side if a dem were in the white house dont pay him any attention joe. he just hates bush.
Here's a couple more that might wake you up..
Baghdad Burning
Healing Iraq
Sun Of Iraq
You appear to think no one here's read those, Neeraj. But I certainly have, and I'm willing to bet Joe has too.
People would do well to learn a little more about military history, they really would.
The casualty rate is not the issue. The issue is if you REALLY are interested in UNDERSTANDING an issue you read ALL you can...not just something that may support a position you embrace. It doesn't matter if the media covers American Idol, Michael Jackson, and there are a slew of deaths in Iraq...the issue is: if you want to find out the full picture, then there is a way to do it by going to primary sources.
That doesn't negate the deaths. That doesn't negate a day when there are no deaths. And it doesn't negate a media that somehow feels the biggest cultural event in years deserves some coverage.
It's a separate issue. Do we only want to know what we know and read people who support our views...or are we interested in getting as big a picture as we can...which may not change our views...but at least we're making an effort to learn more (without a talk show host, hack politician or blogger telling us what to think and what it means...and this goes for left AND right).
I haven't been reading the Iraqi blogs, but I plan to start doing so soon.
HOWEVER...if I was in the Pentagon, I'd have the boys in Military Intelligence whip up a few dozen "Iraqi blogs" and post to them remotely a few times a day. It would be a cheap, easy, and very effective way to spread disinformation, offering a rosy (albeit fictional) picture of the war. As a propaganda tool it would be high-yield, low hassle---and when reports from the fake "Iraqi blogs" start to show up in the right-wing media, I'd have a pretty good laugh about it.
I'm not saying that IS what's happening, I'm say that's what I would do.
You might want to ask yourself a couple questions, though:
***Just how many English-literate Iraqis have dependable internet service in the middle of a war zone, anyway?
***Do you think that the military is capable of lying to the American public, or do you think that they would never stoop to such a thing?