Major Networks Putting Iraq On The Back Burner: Reporters

The New York Times has a piece today on the dwindling amount of time US news networks are spending on Iraq and Afghanistan:

According to data compiled by Andrew Tyndall, a television consultant who monitors the three network evening newscasts, coverage of Iraq has been "massively scaled back this year." Almost halfway into 2008, the three newscasts have shown 181 weekday minutes of Iraq coverage, compared with 1,157 minutes for all of 2007. The "CBS Evening News" has devoted the fewest minutes to Iraq, 51, versus 55 minutes on ABC's "World News" and 74 minutes on "NBC Nightly News." (The average evening newscast is 22 minutes long.)

A post on the blog, Obsidian Wings, points out that Tyndall's numbers mean Americans are getting about "two minutes of Iraq coverage, per network, per week."

And we ought to care. We are responsible for the present state of Iraq, and we ought to care what happens there. Besides, we have men and women risking their lives in Iraq. We owe both Iraqis and our troops more than 181 weekday minutes, for all three networks. That's about two minutes of Iraq coverage, per network, per week. And that's far too little.

Comments

[Vurt]

12:01 AM on 06/29/2008

my car gets 34 iraqis per mile.

[HunterSThompson]

03:11 PM on 06/28/2008

"They gave their lives so that oil can be free. No, I mean so that Iraqi's can be free. Oil is $140 per barrel, exactly as planned"

Resident George W. Bush
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
CATAPULT THAT PROPAGANDA

"See, in my line of work you got to keep repeating things over and over and over again for the truth to sink in," he said, "to kind of catapult the propaganda."

George W Bush

[HunterSThompson]

02:06 PM on 06/28/2008

4,000 plus dead Americans in Iraq, many more Iraqi's..............................

"They gave their lives so that oil can be free. No, I mean so that Iraqi's can be free. Oil is $140 per barrel, exactly as planned"


Resident George W. Bush

[Ramirez]

01:22 AM on 06/25/2008

From Reuters:
**

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - The U.S. military will transfer control of security in Iraq's Anbar province to Iraqi forces this week, a remarkable turnaround given the vast western region was considered lost to insurgents less than two years ago.

Anbar will be the 10th of Iraq's 18 provinces returned to Iraqi security control since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003, but it will be the first Sunni Arab region handed back.

Mamun Sami Rasheed, Anbar's governor, said the handover ceremony would take place on Saturday.

"We have been dreaming of this event since 2003," he said.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080623/wl_nm/iraq_anbar_dc

[HunterSThompson]

03:18 PM on 06/28/2008

Thursday:

Capt. Philip J. Dykeman died during combat in Al Anbar province, the military said. He was the leader of Fox Company in the 2nd Battalion, 3rd Marines at Marine Corps Base Hawaii.


http://www.democratandchronicle.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080628/NEWS01/80628004&referrer=FRONTPAGECAROUSEL

[RedEyes]

07:17 PM on 06/24/2008

Nice! Things must be looking good over there.

I mean, the news is only filled with bad things, right? "Global warming", other natural disasters, the "recession", the rise in gas prices, and mostly, pervert-women teachers who sexually abuse little boys - these are all common stories in the news these days.

So if the war is off the front page...then things are lookin' pretty good.

[debrouillard]

11:51 AM on 06/24/2008

Honestly,i prefer when they dont show anything about Iraq,that way i dont get confused after watching a good piece of reporting from BBC and Al Jazeera. When the US MSM report on Iraq its always conflicting with what one sees on foreign networks,and that kind of confusing.

[Dustee]

04:55 PM on 06/24/2008

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ULw0tfYvxhU

[gapanther]

11:21 AM on 06/24/2008

This explains why there's been no MSM news coverage of the Iraqi councilman killing US soldiers.

[dr4Will]

10:10 PM on 06/23/2008

our candidates say very little--would you expect the press to forget American Idoli, the Simmons,the spouses,dead salmon,Kobe and all the other crap- just because Americans are dying--that would be too much to expect from tabloid journalism--where are the caring liberals in congress--cowering behind the President threats, cowards that they are!

[xxnounxx]

09:28 PM on 06/23/2008

Thank god for al jazeera and the bbc,atleast it shows reality
even before it was scaled down,american media only showed the amrican people 1% of the atrocities taking palce in iraq

[knowBuddhaU]

07:18 PM on 06/23/2008

" And with electrical weapons that leave very few marks, it’s very hard to know....

"Now, everybody can get outraged by violence they can see. Violence they can’t see, we barely have the opportunity even to raise the question."

http://www.democracynow.org/2008/3/12/torture_and_democracy_scholar_darius_rejali

[ErnestineBass]

07:11 PM on 06/23/2008

I watched the CBS Evening News with Katie Couric tonight. The news out of Iraq? *Only* 11 Americans were killed by IEDs last month. The entire piece lasted less than eight seconds.
Eight seconds. That was it.

The networks haven't put the Iraq war on the back burner.

They've shoved it in the deep freeze.

[bluesnot]

07:58 PM on 06/23/2008

Please tell me she didn't say "only". Please.

[Dustee]

04:53 PM on 06/24/2008

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ULw0tfYvxhU

[marinade]

06:48 PM on 06/23/2008

When Obama is elected president, he'll end the war if the Congress lets him.

[getoffmedz]

07:12 PM on 06/23/2008

Call us when you land.

[bluesnot]

07:54 PM on 06/23/2008

What? Was it a little too subtle for you? Did you miss the "if Congress lets him" part?

[InofTouch]

06:36 PM on 06/23/2008

So people watch broadcast more then cable...is that what I getting from this

[PioneerKing]

06:22 PM on 06/23/2008

The networks don't want Americans to remember why they want change, and McCain's main stream media buddies don't want to remind Americans of the reasons to not vote for McCain and the republicans.

[kellygrrrl]

05:33 PM on 06/23/2008

WMDs Found:

http://www.brasschecktv.com/page/231.html