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

[SaulGood]

who thinks this will make it through the msm? (i added the spaces)

On September 13-14, 2008, Lawrence Velvel, the dean of the Massachusetts School of Law at Andover, plans to convene a 'convention' at the school's facilities; the attendees of which will plan strategies to prosecute members of the Bush administration for war crimes.

"This is not intended to be a mere discussion of violations of law that have occurred," stated Velvel in a press release. "It is, rather, intended to be a planning conference at which plans will be laid and necessary organizational structures set up, to pursue the guilty as long as necessary and, if need be, to the ends of the Earth.
--
--
"The man ultimately responsible for the torture had a unique preparation and persona for the presidency," wrote Velvel. "He is a former drunk, was a serial failure in business who had to repeatedly be bailed out by daddy's friends and wanna-be-friends, was unable to speak articulately despite the finest education(s) that money and influence can buy, has a dislike of reading, so that 100-page memos have to be boiled down to one page for him, is heedless of facts and evidence, and appears not even to know the meaning of truth."

http://rawstory.com/news/2008/Bush_war_crimes_conference_to_convene_0622.html

[Beelzebul]

Why do liberals who refuse to join the military and help fight the global war on terrorism globally insist on seeing our brave warriors blown apart by evildoers? If you want to witness it first hand, then join the Army and go to Iraq.

Us Republicans prefer not to see the slaughter and butchery taking place and applaud the networks for not showing it and enabling the evildoers.

[RoloTomassi]

YOU Republicans are psychopaths--predators posing as house pets.

You can't be trusted, you are fiscally irresponsible to the core, and your real values are the exact opposite of everything you claim to be.

Please, don't ask stupid rethug rhetorical questions; like everything else associated with GOP ideology, they are dishonest on every level.

[ChiGuy]

Yeah, Beelz!
Not much of compassionate conservative, are you? :)

[Snerdgronk]

... and they get toilet paper stuck to their shoes, too!

[kellygrrrl]

"enabling the evildoers"

that would be YOU and everyone else who elected Bu$hCo

[ThePodiumIsMine]

and that type of thinking justifies your calls for murdering Republicans does it? It's not evil if you kill, it's just your perogative. Is that it?

[thegreatgiginthesky]

I'll join right after you.

[OutsourcedAgain]

Or is it that you just don't want to remind Americans of the mess your party's gotten us into? Oh no we can't have that, not during an election year.

[TheEmptinessOfTruthiness]

Chickenhawks are in unanimous agreement.

Our brave warriors are disconcerted by the lack of coverage. Their bravery is going unnoticed.

[peachfuzz]

Not caring or fatigue? Why watch what you have no power to change?

Why watch what you do not trust?

It's not like we elected anyone in the midterms to help us....oh wait.

I think people are waiting to vote again. And keep voting till it gets better.

[Marlyn]

"It's not like we elected anyone in the midterms to help us" ???

It is a matter of numbers. Even though Democrats have a slim majority, they do NOT have enough votes to override a veto or a filibuster.

[gbht12]

It is shameful that the news does not cover Iraq! This has been going on for way too long. Yeah, we are sick of it, but will you VOTE for ending the fre*king war?? How about the troops that have been sent over there by the BUSH/MCCAIN bunch and want to keep them there for 100 YEARS. Do your jobs and cover the WAR.

Also, I want to know why all of the media caved when BUSH said not to cover the COFFINS coming home. People need to see what this maniac of a president has done to our kids!!! SHOW US THE TROOPS COMING HOME, SHOW US THE COFFINS AND SHOW US THE WOUNDED!!! Maybe when it is in people's faces, they can't ignore it anymore and SHOP like numb nu*ts suggested.

[kellygrrrl]

but I really need to know how many Frapuccinos Britney had this week

[lornejl]

I tried not to reply but its making me crazy, how many did she have ?

[wadenelson1]

Gawd, skip the Iraq coverage. I want to know too.

[HopeandChange]

Proof that things are improved and going well. Good job by the American troops.

[RoloTomassi]

That's complete BS. Security is more stable becasue our troops are there, true, but that does NOTHING to get us closer to handing over security to the Iraqis; but of course you NeoCons have never had that goal anyway....

The incidents of female suicide bombers is on the rise:

http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1817119,00.html

[alaintex]

Iraqi womens sufferage - dual meaning.

[aristippe]

Got Milk?

[HumeSkeptic]

Do you mean that killing and torture of innocent civilinas is on track, it's just that we don't hear about it?

Thanks for the update. Why don't we start a collection effort for more "drop weapons" for our troops?

[ClydeSloppers]

And thanks to all those baby Alexes who grew up and volunteered and are serving with honor in our military.

[1099]

Exactly. Improvement of the situation in Iraq is apparently not newsworthy.

[Maloysius]

Sad to say Iran might become television's next big hit come fall if congress doesn't grow a huevo or two..

[preatorius]

I think that the networks realize that the public is tired of the war, and they want it to end.
The election is far more interesting to the viewers. It is a contest of change, versus the status quo.
Hopefully, we will soon see coverage of the troop withdrawal.

[TankGirlz]

What a sad commentary on the American people then... sorry troops..we are bored with your fight

Selfish... am I surprised...
no

[SaulGood]

and troops on the third, fourth, and fifth tours - do they get the convenience of out of sight, out of mind? uhh,no. why should we?

[Daly]

Bull! they never covered the war; they gave of entertainment tonight coverage told us to keep shopping and don't worry be happy ; btw we should all rush out and buy SUV because the gas prices will be really cheap because we will have Iraq pay for the war with they oil.

Not one feature on how an army family is hurting with mutiple deployments; no talk on stoploss; how many soldiers have lost their jobs, houses, limbs?

Showing me a school being rebuilt in Iraq when I can drive around (If I had gas) and see plenty of schools that need rebuilding right here at home; and to add insult the schools not being built with iraqi $ but USA $ borrowed from China.

We are paying for this "surge" the insurgences AND the iraq soldiers that turn tail and run at the first sign of smoke are both on the military payroll.

[thizzkid]

I agree Iraq troops and police are paid cowards watch the BBC and they show running firefights and the Afghan troops dont even take cover when they fight i saw a guy who looked about 20 and was fighting along side the brits and he just casually walks into the line of fire and starts firing and then a bullet knocks the clip out of his gun and he retreats behind a wall only because his gun is damaged he was laughing seconds after that happened those are the guys we should be paying the big bucks too.

[fishretired]

I'm thinking this is like the pot calling the kettle black. i'd love to see how Iraq coverage articles compare to entertainment articles on Huffost - Why don't you guys do the analysis of HuffPost as a comparison. I think it is only fair - I'm a huffpost fan, but let's make sure we are fair here.

[ChiGuy]

It's a New York Times article.
HuffPo just passed it on.

[fishretired]

Yeas, but huffo o sure blew it up like somehow HuffPo wasn't exactly the same....

[alaintex]

A HuffPo fan who wants to be fair - TR0LL !

[nicoshalom]

I agree. We need to bring the news of the wars back in the mainstream news.

[chuckieboy]

How many time do I have to tell you? It is not MSM it is CORPROATE MEDIA

[Chubbster]

No one watches network news except people who think Barrack is a muslim related to Sadam.

[SanityClaus]

Why did every network devote hours of air time to beatifying Tim Russert, whose shoddy reporting enabled the rush to war in Iraq, in which more than ONE HUNDRED JOURNALISTS have died to date?

[kellygrrrl]

because all the Talking Heads want to think they are muy importante

they still think they are a Guest at the Party

[Daly]

Russert - RIP did have a compassionate side; when he wrote his books they were not about HIM; he was sadly one of the better ones at the gig the journalist in the field are true to their craft while the ones that sit home and worry about their taxes (Charlie G) are cowards of the worst kind.

Just like in life those that can DO! The CorpMedia hates the field workers; they hate their courage, youth and truth. How can the blow-dried go up against journalist with dirt under their nails.

These Jackal never even cared that families had to send flak-jackets - did not offer a single dime to help with the huge number of blow-dried; they could have adopted a unit and supply them with SOMETHING. Nope we had to have car washes, churches (I bet none of the mega ones); door to door moms & dads collect to send their kid a flak jacket.

It is sad times with a dad with a video camera breaks a story on poorly kept barracks.

[HumeSkeptic]

There should be a poll taken to determine which country we should invade next to have maximum TV viewership.

Brazil might be a good candidate, with all those bikini clad women on their beaches. The problem is they don't have as much oil to make it worthwhile, in case TV ratings don't go as expected.

Venezuela is a safer bet.

[bola47]

wait, wait. we should invade brazil for their ethanol. over 75% of their autos are fueled by cheap ethanol grown from sugar cane. of course we tax their ethanol imports like crazy while giving the oil companies a free pass on arab oil.

[HumeSkeptic]

You have a point. Besides Brazilians need liberating, and "terrists" are everywhere, so that's not a problem.

[kellygrrrl]

you know, Hume, a Brazilian cut thong really is a WMD

[VolvoBirkenstock]

Especially when the wrong body type wears it!

[ChiGuy]

I say we take France and turn it into the Southern California of Europe.
That'll teach 'em.

[HumeSkeptic]

I'm for it. I like France. ANd they do need to be liberated from their evil GOVERNMENT run healthcare system (rated # 1 by WHO).

[JJeff88]

What really gripes me has less to do with the amount of time devoted to Iraq and Afganistan than it does with the content of the information and how it is organized.

I'd like to see some sort of regularly-issued time-line chart which provides key information by both key objectives/issues and geographic hot-spots so that citizens can track progress (or lack thereof) on at least a weekly basis. Even a terse "No Change" comment in a box would be better than no information at all.

I realize this might be more difficult for broadcast media but seems made to order for print - especially the newsweeklies.

If we simply did this, it would guarantee that news out of Iraq wouldn't drop off the edge of the horizon unless there was some sort of mini-crisis (or a quiet news day at home) and would help individual citizens get their arms around what's been happening over there on a regular basis.

[speakingtruth2power]

The MSM is our enemy and clearly part of a corporatist conspiracy

to support the Crusade for Muslim Resources planned out during

Darth Cheney's secret energy meetings. Rupert Murdoch must be

our first target in 2009 when we initiate a new Fairness Doctrine!!!

[Peteyman]

http://theheretik.typepad.com/the_heretik/images/vader_fight_bw_cheney.jpg

Sorry, couldn't help

[Peteyman]

http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.balmes-online.de/Bush_-_Evil_Empire.jpg&imgrefurl=http://wwb.freeservers.com/darthbush.htm&h=368&w=545&sz=38&hl=en&start=6&sig2=9Zzzub71jInoIyjhA-_myA&um=1&tbnid=Nuti_Z1BcQG5VM:&tbnh=90&tbnw=133&ei=Y8RfSNnUOKSmpATe2unMBA&prev=/images%3Fq%3Ddarth%2Bcheney%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:en-US:official%26sa%3DX

This one's pretty good too.