What’s Going On In Iraq?
There are many stories about the war-torn country, but Sean Aqui has a unique perspective…
Reporters are criticized for not covering “good news�, while others counter by pointing to the high death toll among journalists in Iraq, and note that if Iraq is so dangerous reporters can’t leave the Green Zone, that says all we need to know about the security situation.There’s probably some truth to the “not reporting good news� argument, for a couple of mundane reasons: the inability of reporters to get out and witness such occurrences, and the fact that a school opening simply isn’t as interesting or important as the ongoing violence. Reconstruction statistics tend to get reported as roundups, with such things as “3,000 schools have been renovated in the last year�, rather than as 3,000 separate stories. It’s fair to say that that lessens the impact of the good news.
But such complaints need to be taken with a grain of salt as well; a raw number like “3,000 schools renovated� or “100 playgrounds have been built� doesn’t say much about what is meant by “renovated�, doesn’t say whether a playground is actually used, and doesn’t mean anything unless we have some context: how many schools are there?
More here.
6 Responses to “What’s Going On In Iraq?”
All the military has to do is stop these daily “briefings” that tell a story of “doom and gloom” every day. Its not the reporters telling us bad stuff, its the military. The reporters are not even out in the field reporting!
Let the military tell us something “nice” for a change. Stop blaming the reporters.
I will accept that Iraq is going better when the road from the Bagdad airport is secure and Iraqi officials don’t need to hide in the Green Zone. After Laura Ingrahm’s comments awhile back I looked at her website to check on her itinerary. She visit the only secure sites with heavy security. If it’s so safe over in Iraq, ask Michael Weiskopf or Steven Vincent. Yhe wire from the US Embassy also taints the “Koolaid’s flavor”. Maybe “Holly in Basra” can inform us of all the good news. Sorry the gloves are off.
What’s Going On In Iraq?
Last week, on PBS’s Jin Lehrer’s new hour, a live feed interview directly from Iraq, with, if I remember correctly, it was a New york Timess reporter, that stated that “Iraq, outside the Green Zone of Baghdad, it was total anarchy and civil war.”
I’m sure you can find and order for a few dollars, a tape copy of that Lehrer news program from PBS.com or through your local PBS station should you choose not to believe me.
Checkout this gem from Booman and Australian press. Armitedge is in Australian and he is not painting a pretty picture. Seems he is singing a “DixieChicks” type song, better attack him for being a traitor.
Down under Dixie Dick
Boo Dickie
A good place to get some shards of the real picture in Iraq is from the citizen blogs coming out of Iraq. Thoughts from Baghdad and Treasure of Baghdad are my favorites. I’d be glad to know if anyone else has some in-country blogs, especially from our soldiers, that they would recommend.
OutOfContext,
There is a military chatroom in the free to anyone Yahoo chats after signing up for Yahoo email.
I chat with several soldiers in Iraq, male and female every day..some of their conversation is either introverted or guarded…others speak out plainly, some anti, others gung ho for it, in short, what any outsider should usually expect from any mixed group.