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

[xargaw]

This is exactly why we need a NEW and STRONG FCC and a breakup of the media consolidation that has occurred. The media that uses our air ways no longer serve the "public interest." They only self serve their corporate interest. Imagine, if you had a loved on in the War. The media is telling you not to pay attention. This is anti-american and would not be happening if this country had a draft. If this country had a draft, we would no even be in Iraq.

[realpolitic]

The networks shun the war as they always have because war does not sell products. War and violence is gruesome and shocks people. As a country, we are still spending roughly $3 billion a week in Iraq. Gas prices are incredibly high. Tens of thousands of our soldiers are coming home with PTSD and many will end up homeless on our streets, as happened after Vietnam. The far right will not care for them then, but will ignore them. Our government wants Iraqis to sign an agreement for the long term presence of American troops in Iraq, affecting the country's very sovereignty. Now is the time to discuss the war in the news daily.

[Chillinout]

They don't care about them when they come home, because if the soldiers aren't killing someone, they are useless to the Repubs.

[FilthyPerson]

Comments on what elCapidan had to say about coverage?

"After years of fighting, these people ARE finally governing together. They have put their differences aside, and in less than two years have gone from one of the most dangerous parts of the Diyala province, to one of the safest."

[FilthyPerson]

The below from the next page deserves repeating in case you all missed it ... and because you all need it ...

elCapidan

Yep, those are indeed my words right there. You see, Mr. Cyrus, FilthyP actually does know someone who has been to Iraq. I just got back from a 15 month deployment about two weeks ago. While there, FilthyPerson emailed me several times a week, looking to stay abreast of what was really happening. He would often send links to news articles (the good news and the bad) and ask for my view of what was being covered in the media. I was always happy to provide some insight to someone who was thinking critically and questioning EVERYTHING the media says.

And since you brought it up; the area where I spent the second half of my deployment (al Khalis) was a mixed district- a predominantly Shia city surrounded by Sunni towns. After years of fighting, these people ARE finally governing together. They have put their differences aside, and in less than two years have gone from one of the most dangerous parts of the Diyala province, to one of the safest.
Find some media coverage of that. Oh right, you can't. You see a bunch of dumb kids in New England got knocked up. And that's much more important.

Posted 03:41 PM on 06/23/2008

[Chillinout]

What unit were you in? Where were you stationed in Iraq?

[SouthpawSass]

BREAKING NEWS:

The Iraqi insurgents have declared a truce, and Osama Bin Laden has surrendered to US Troops. OPEC decided to produce more oil. The 5 major oil companies are having a buy one gallon, get one gallon free sale at all their stations. President Bush has resigned, with his entire adminstration being institutionalized and Al Gore is now charge of the country until the general election in November..­.

Oh, did I mention McCain's first wife is releasing a tell all book that paints a very harsh picture of her former husband, John?

[FilthyPerson]

elCapidan.
I also have ... daily interactions with IA troops and officers who are subject matter experts on their own country and history in ways that you and I will never be..
What I can tell you with absolute certainty is that the story the average American is exposed to on a daily basis just doesn't cut it. Generally speaking, you're getting all the bad news and none of the good. Why? Because if it bleeds, it leads; everything else is just boring..

Posted 06:03 PM - 05/15/2008

You people are laughably ignorant on this subject and others but if that's how you want to be ... go for it ...this is the place for you.

[levibatgirl]

Ok, Cleopatra.

Yawn

[dejtemper]

MSM has made terrible mistakes from the beginning of this farce in Iraq. They had reporters embedded with the troops when we imperialistically invaded Iraq to spin the positive. Then they went along with the Bush administration, and did not photograph the bodies of our dead soldiers. When they did publish such a photo, the Bush administration put a cap on that real quick. How many Iraqi people have died? How often did we ever see what we did by invading that country? We know that for years the people did not have running water and electricity, but nothing much ever came across our TV sets. What about the frustration of our soldiers? I have talked to many coming back, and they have a hard time being able to execute their missions. They have a hard time even getting the right equipment. Where is all of this money going? Why doesn't MSM constantly show the economic impact that this farce is causing? We, as individuals and a group of Americans, are to blame for this. Millions and millions will turn in for American Idol, how many will contact the MSM to demand more coverage, correct coverage. We get what we ask for.

[speakingtruth2power]

Two or thee things can be said to be mistakes.

A series of efforts at enabling & cheer-leading

should be acknowledged as co-conspiratorial.

[getoffmedz]

dejtemper - no mistake. The very people who profit most from these scabrous wars own or maintain control over MSM.

It's all "bidness." And we're made dupes every single day.

[mergina]

Oh, who cares about our dying men and women in arms? Who cares about dying Iraqi's? It is time to watch the news to see if Obama is wearing his flag pin, or if McCain has gone completely off the deep end.
The only coverage on the telly about Iraq, it seems, is when McCain says we will never leave until victory is accomplished, although no one ever says exactly what that is. Or you hear Obama saying blah blah blah to the war. The military should just hunker down to protect each other until they are out of there, refuse missions and anything that will put them in harms way, and ALL VOTE AGAINST MCCAIN IN NOVEMBER.

[Redrover666]

It's not the least but surprising. The media was running one story after another of negative coverage. The situation is stabilizing and great strides have been made. The liberal media is finding less fodder for bashing the administration with this. And as a consequence, deeply disappointing all you patriots.

[trollsbwild]

Great, we have achieved victory. Let's start withdrawing some of the troops then.
What does Lord Patreaus say?

[Chillinout]

We have to stay until Americans aren't getting killed, and then we have to stay to make sure we get their oil.

As soon as we have total control over their oil fields, then our troops can come home, or 1000 years, whichever comes first.

[speakingtruth2power]

Menthol rekardation is nothing to be proud of.

That "liberal media" and "activist court" crepe

stinks like forty year old liederkranz cheese!!!

[Redrover666]

My goodness! Also very clever.

[Mat8675]

You're an idiot

[Redrover666]

Very clever.

[dejtemper]

"The liberal media is finding less fodder for bashing the administration with this. And as a consequence, deeply disappointing all you patriots."
I do not agree with this "war", and never did. I think there is plenty of "fodder" to be published. I love my country very much, and the one thing I really took offense to was the so called "patriot" line. I mean when this was being thrown out there from the beginning. I am just as much a patriot as anyone out there. People disagree and that is ok. Don't call people unpatriotic because their opinion is different from yours.

[realpolitic]

How much are we spending weekly in Iraq? What is it doing to our economy? How high will gas prices go? You hawks like to look in Iraq in isolation. How much of the infrastructure of this country is going unrepaired because we have been given a tax break at a time when we need to finance a war that China is really financing for us? How many of our veterans from the conflict will end up as homeless because of PTSD symptoms, like after Vietnam? Which of the war hawks among the journalists, will care for them then? O'Reilly will just say they are crazy or they are drug abusers.

[speakingtruth2power]

The only occupations that have had success historically

have been the ones that killed off many of the indigenous

peoples and replaced them with many of their own folk.

Just ask the Tibetans, Palestinians and Amer. Indians.

The obvious solution in Iraq is to send the proponents

of this illegal invasion over there, to stay there for ever!!

[Chillinout]

I am watching McBush on MSNBC and there are two BandAids on his head. I think something must have gone wrong with his mind control computer chip and they had to replace it last night.

LOL

[trollsbwild]

Hard to shave using a rattled saber.

[Strywever]

Just wanted you to know that someone caught and appreciated your pun! Thanks for the chuckle.

[rkab]

Maybe it is because the REAL war is happening in Afghanistan (and Pakistan) not in IRAQ or IRAN!!! Anyone complaining about coverage in IRAQ is probably just working for the Shrub/Chainey HATE MACHINE. Time spent talking about Afghanistan? Bin Laden?

[TexasDem0]

Are you saying the Iraq Oil Grab War is not real?

[trollsbwild]

Shhhh. don;t talk about Pakistan. After all, Musharraf is all but gone, and the radical clerics will have nukes with OBL as their ally.

[pinkyboo]

Anyone complaining about coverage in IRAQ is probably just working for the Shrub/Chainey HATE MACHINE

And why shouldn't we HATE those bastards?

[ethancorso]

To be fair, there isn't a great deal of Iraq coverage here, either.

[Chillinout]

It would be nice if HuffPo would post specific guidelines to what you can and cannot past here so I could figure out why some of my seemingly innocuous posts never see the light of day.

If this post even makes it.

[Strywever]

I'm convinced that mst of that isn't censorship -- it's some kind of technical weirdness. The better question is why they can't get whatever software they use for comment publication to work better.

[SPQR1052]

As American living in Europe since 2000 I must state that this is not to expected of our current leaders mentalities and that of a great deal of my fellow countrymen : Ignore the problem and pray that it will go away or resolve itseld. Shame on you MSM, Shame on you.