Poll: Journalists believe Iraq conditions have ‘gotten worse.’
By on Nov 28th, 2007 at 9:52 am
Poll: Journalists believe Iraq conditions have ‘gotten worse.’
In a new poll, journalists in Iraq describe conditions there “as the most perilous they have ever encountered.” Fifty-eight percent say that “at least one of their Iraqi staff had been killed or kidnapped in the last year alone,” and “eight out of ten, feel that, over time, conditions for telling the story of Iraq have gotten worse, not better.” Additionally, journalists dispute right-wing attacks that their coverage is too negative, with 15 percent believing it actually paints too rosy a picture:
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Just because they’re in Iraq, doesn’t mean they know conditions better in Iraq then the people back in the United States sitting behind desks in nicely air conditioned offices! Besides, if they were really good journalists, they would be in these nice kushy offices instead of in a hellhole (allegedly) like Iraq.
November 28th, 2007 at 9:55 amThis has been borne out in part by the few journalists who are on the scene; unfortunately, their reports are drowned out by the clamor of the politicians, the White House sycophants, the right-wing columnists and pundits, and the brown-nosed media, all of whom dominate the news to which the public is exposed.
November 28th, 2007 at 10:06 amIn the run up to the war, many of us were reading the logical arguments of those who were skeptical, and we believed them. But the clamoring groups noted above were successful in their mission, with the disastrous result we witness today.
True to form, the pundits, columnists and yes-men still control the message.
Ah, the filter of Corporate owned media giants:
It’s not the message, IDIOT, it’s the media!
However, some good news:
November 28th, 2007 at 10:12 am
But but but…according to the last thread the media is controlled by Puppet Master Bush and his cronies.
You would think the Grand Master of Imperial Amerikkkaâ„¢ could keep his guys in line better than this.
November 28th, 2007 at 10:15 amThat does not matter !!..we got a package and agreement with Al-Malki to keep him in power and we get in return nice corporate oil deals and get to stay in Iraq for a long time…
November 28th, 2007 at 10:18 amWTF? From page 20 of the PDF file:
“What the media are missing is how we will get out of Iraq and leave a stable Iraq behind,†said Col. Steve Boylan, spokesman for Army Gen. David Petraeus, commander of coalition forces.
MAYBE THEY’RE MISSING IT CAUSE YOU AIN’T TOLD US WHAT/WHEN IT IS, DUMBCLUCK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
November 28th, 2007 at 10:19 amComment by Age of Rifles
…no smarter than a bag of toe-nail clippings…
November 28th, 2007 at 10:21 amThese journalists will never make it to US big coporate television studios and talk shows to discuss what they saw in Iraq.
November 28th, 2007 at 10:22 amAge of Rifles
Journalists don’t control what lands up in your papers. Editors do. Editors answer to advertising execs, who in turn land up answering to CEOs. Readers, are really just product sold to advertisers.
Oh, and who is it that keeps on going on about the “lib’rul” media again?
November 28th, 2007 at 10:22 amOh really? I guess their reports don’t make it down to the teleprompters at CNN, where they gushingly go on about the success of the surge and how Iraqis are flooding back over the border to dance in the streets. Every breathless report of success carries a hurried little “asterik statement” at the end –today’s jubilant homecoming bus story was quickly summed up with a statement that the real reason the riders were taking the free bus back to Baghdad was that their money was all gone and Jordan was basically pushing them out. Journalism is kaput in this country.
November 28th, 2007 at 10:40 amThose anti-Amurcan terrorist-loving journalist hacks better watch their step and shut their mouths – or they’ll end up in Gitmo — or worse.
/sarc off
November 28th, 2007 at 10:50 amMenehune
Who owns the media? Not the reporters.
Its the advertisers. Advertisers can and will kill a story in America’s media. In SA we are somewhat tougher because we are struggling to regain our legitamacy after Apartheid, (And hence our product, the readers) but in America, well you are controlled by advertising executives – and they are largely conservative yuppies.
November 28th, 2007 at 11:04 am12,
November 28th, 2007 at 11:09 amGood insight and well said, Mr. Gorton.
Comment by John Kerry — November 28, 2007 @ 11:24 am
WOW. It’s a war against liberals being fought overseas. Who would have thunk it – oh neocon’s with their imagination, my bad.
November 28th, 2007 at 11:30 amIf we win in Iraq…libs lose!
Comment by John Kerry — November 28, 2007 @ 11:24 am
And how do we “win in Iraq” exactly?
November 28th, 2007 at 11:33 amComment by O. Bigfoot — November 28, 2007 @ 11:45 am
##
“Why, by reducing the murder rate in Baghdad, to, say, the level of Philly, DeeCee, or Palm Beach County, Florida, I suppose.”
##
Most military commanders feel that the current lowering of violence is due to the cease fire called by Muqtada Sadr. The radical cleric is wanting to combat Baath related Sunni forces before he turns his Mahdi Army back on American troops.
“American commanders have said that they are aggressively negotiating with Sadr officials to help keep his militia, the Mahdi Army, in check. But if the cease-fire ends, if Mr. Sadr’s whims shift, that could push violence up again–no matter how many troops are here.”
http://www.vetvoice.com/showDiary.do;jsessionid=4222F1B5186D3314DFF5D87ADD76BFF6?diaryId=116
And his whims just may shift:
“The debate over rehabilitating former members of Saddam’s ruling Baath Party has been a major obstacle to Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s push to stem support for the insurgency by bringing minority Sunnis into the political process.
A parliamentary session on Sunday adjourned in turmoil after lawmakers loyal to anti-American Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr pounded their fists on their tables in protest.
“There are Baathists who committed crimes and atrocities against the Iraqi people and those must be tried,” Bahaa al-Araji, a lawmaker from al-Sadr’s 30-member bloc, said Monday at a news conference.
He complained that the legislation failed to distinguish between Baath members who were forced to join and those who willingly participated in suppression of majority Shiites.”
http://www.vetvoice.com/showDiary.do;jsessionid=4222F1B5186D3314DFF5D87ADD76BFF6?diaryId=140
Add to that a stable and effective central government, a trained and loyal Iraqi military and police force that are capable of handling further incidents themselves, with minimal help from U.S. forces, and I would say that’s about it. All current indicators prove we are well on our way.
##
The problem is that the government of Iraq is always going to be in turmoil. Their constitution declares them as an Islamic Theocracy. However the Shia are tired of 35 years of opression under minority Sunni rule. “The situation in Iraq has never been about religion: It’s about pro-Saddam Sunni Baathists versus anti-Saddam Shiite militias. It’s more about revenge and power stemming from Saddam’s rule than it is about who the rightful successor to Mohamed was in 632 A.D. If the political sides don’t resolve these issues that have built up over the last 40 years, the violence will again engulf the country when Moqtada al-Sadr declares an end to his ceasefire.”
“Get used to the idea of a U.S. presence in Iraq for the long-term. Both front running Democrat and Republican Presidential candidates have commited to that.”
###
You may want to rethink that as well.
Comment by O. Bigfoot — November 28, 2007 @ 11:45 am
November 28th, 2007 at 12:03 pmJohn Kerry: fighting us here, because he’s afraid to fight over there.
November 28th, 2007 at 1:12 pm19 – Menehune – you are on fire today!!!
Awesome snarkage! ;O) Keep ‘em coming!
- A
November 28th, 2007 at 1:52 pmWho are these journalists? The ones who sold themselves and us out before the occupation of Iraq? Joe Klein? What a bunch of crap.
November 28th, 2007 at 3:09 pm