MSM Coverage
A National Review post makes an observation about current Washington Post coverage of casualty reductions.
Today, on the front page of The Washington Post, we see the third in a three-part series on roadside bombs in Iraq. The stories in this series have been centered on the top half of the page and highlighted in red (a device I don’t recall seeing before). Next to that is a huge headline about allegations of killings In Iraq by Blackwater. Below that is a headline that reads “Most in Poll Want War Funding Cut.” Meanwhile deep inside the paper, on page A14, we find the following article: “U.S. and Civilian Deaths Decrease Sharply in Iraq: American Military Credits Troop Influx.” True, nestled between the other screaming headlines on page one, there is a brief minuscule teaser for this far more positive story about Iraq. Yet the bias here is clear.
As some of you pointed out, technically this MSM reported the lower fatalities in Iraq last month. But as has always been stated the bias is clear in the editorial decisions and not the facts themselves. In this case, the editorial decision is where in the paper the positive story is placed. It easy to imagine a conservative newspaper that would put the low death rate story on the front page with the other stories being buried in A14.