Deception by Omission: MSM on Iraq

Sadly, this type of analysis won't ever hit a broad scope of OpEd in the MSM.

What is happening in Iraq is a failure by the media to give the American people relevant information. This has probably colored public opinion on the liberation of Iraq. The mediaÂ’s failure has come in two areas. First, it has failed to provide the news in context, often focusing on negatives. Second, it has not brought evidence to the American people that would place the initial decision to go in into context. Both of these failures have occurred often enough that one cannot be blamed for wondering if a pattern of deception, by omission, is not occurring.

It doesn't take a genius to understand that this is accurate, just someone willing to look at the daily reporting. They go on to describe the reporting methods as police blotter style. I'd say that is completely accurate. Only thing ever reported is deaths, destruction and how the military is screwing up.

The term “deception by omission” might sound harsh, but it is accurate. Deception does not need the active misrepresentation of facts, it can occur when someone fails to reveal something relevant to the situation – particularly when the people leaving out some of the facts are advocating a specific course of action (such as withdrawal from Iraq ).

For instance, the media has often failed to report many of the successes. This was a major complaint voiced by at least two columnists who have served in Iraq. In the first case, the complaint is about the lack of good news ( schools opened, rehabilitation of infrastructure neglected by Saddam Hussein, and other news items that don’t have the suddenness and shock value of a car bombing). The second complaint is that the “police blotter” coverage often obscures the “big picture” of what is going on. This is quite important as well. The insurgents offer little more beyond murder, mayhem, and terror.

Context is very important to reporting. I just don't see the vast majority of the MSM taking any time to show anything but car bombs and the aftermath. This one-sided reporting ensures that the US public, not to mention the rest of the world, never sees the stable and peaceful regions of Iraq, nor the good work that the US has done.

I'll be harshly honest, I don't believe that the general public in the US care to take any efforts to actually understand what is happening. They just see the deaths and the screeching of the anti-war groups and assume that they are getting the complete truth. This complacency, or laziness, has more to do with the anti-war sentiment than anything else.