After shouting the bad news about Iraq, why aren't isn't the media cheering the good news?

Question

After spending the last several years wringing their hands and daily pummeling us with the doom and gloom that they saw in Iraq, why isn't the unbiased media not cheering our successes and reporting the progress with as much gusto? Is it because blood is exciting and success is bad for business or is this an agenda thing? If they admit we're succeeding, do they then have to admit that they were wrong in their armchair predictions of our failure?

SKYDOG
Accept winning freedom and democracy, ending slavery and
stopping fascism, yeah, I guess you're right. All those things would have happened if folks had just sat down and talked? I submit that yours is an idealistic attitude. I respect it, but it ignores the reality that exists in the world. When I was attending military college I dated a girl who felt the same way. I respected her opinion despite the fact that she could not support it.

Answer 1

They are waiting for a democrat to be elected so they can say that THEY won the war.

(All I did was show up)

Answer 2

I think it is a pretty good indicator that they have a very strong interest in portray in this war as a big mistake. The idea that good news does not sell newspapers is not really true nor is it applicable. I think many people would readily purchase news papers with bold headlines such as "SURGE WORKS!" or "IRAQI WARLORDS RENOUNCE TERRORISTS" so it isn't about whether or not people buy news papers.

Some time after the Democrats hopped on board the "Attack Iraq" train and things were bogging down, they made a strategic decision. Figuring that a success in Iraq would help the President and the Republicans in Congress they decided that a non-victory would help springboard them into power.

Once the decision was made, (and you can find how the news articles and public statements changed) the Democrats invested their future in a loss in Iraq. Ever since they have been doing everything in their power to see to it that America was unsuccessful. It is unprecedented! They even went so far as to leak vital top secret intelligence regarding troop movements and strategy to the press who could not wait to publish it there-by undermining the American Soldiers' efforts. It is uncanny how much the Democratic Agenda reflects that of the enemy.

Now, we are doing quite well. Imagine the sorry state the Democrats will be in when our toops begin coming home before the next election. If I was President Bush, I would make a State of the Union speech to which several wounded and decorated military were invited, have them stand up before the assembled members of Congress and salute them while shouting "Mission Accomplished!".

Then we shall see if the Democrats have the nerve to remain seated while the Republicans jump to their feet in raucus applause, cheers and tears. Then, after it calms down and everyone is seated. I would tell the assembled Military that I apologize for any of my collegues that tried to undermine their mission by cutting the funding or setting arbitrary withdrawl dates. I would tell them that the vast majority of Americans strongly support our troops and will never accept less than victory.

Then, just to prove my point, I would ask anyone in the room who knew in their hearts that our troops would be victorious to stand up. Again the camera pans to see which of the Democrats are still seated. After everything calmed down, I would turn to the camera and say to the American people, "See? Don't believe everything you read".

Merry Christmas!

.

Answer 3

I suppose if you eliminate objective reality from the equation there actually may be 'good news'. But in real life any 'good news' is built on the blood, bodies, borrowed money and destroyed infrastucture of Iraq and Afganistan.
Also, it's not the job of the press to 'cheer'...it's the job of the press to 'report' objectively what is observed. Certainly we're 'succeding', and we always will be. Twenty years from now we'll still be on the road to sucess and twenty years after that as well. That isn't sucess. That's institutionalized war and destruction. Folks such as the person that poised this question misses the point. We 'won' the 'war' years ago. What we haven't and can't accomplish is to establish a functioning 'Vichy Iraq' government overseen by US interests in a country that's not a country and never has been. Iraq has a totally different culture than we have in the west. Iraq is 'ruled' by the interests of families, clans and tribes. None of them trust the other and all of them are inclined to put the interests of their family, clan and tribe ahead of all other considerations. Toss in the conflicts between various flavors of Islam and the situation becomes even more murky. In addition, factor in the interests of the surrounding thugocracies and you have almost zero left to establish any kind of democracy and all of the elements needed to institute a forever war between factions. Oddly, this is exactly what the media hasn't reported...in fact, there's almost no 'news' coming out of Iraq and Afganhistan that isn't filtered through the Bush white House. Good news? Not even close!

Answer 4

Good news doesn't sell newspapers or get viewers or listeners. People expect things to be good. What they want to hear about is the bad news. It is one of the first things I was taught in journalism class in high school. If you think you can do a better job and wish to spread all the goodness and light of Iraq than no one is stopping you from publishing your own paper or getting your own newscast that only gives good news. Unfortunately advertising pays the bills in the media. The amount of listeners or readers is what the media uses to sell ads and if there are very few or no listeners or readers there will be no ads. The media is not in the business of giving out information for free so you would be off the air or closed down very quickly due to lack of readership or listeners. Like it or not that is the way it works.

Answer 5

a. Good news does not sell newspapers or air time.
b. Good news is not as interesting as a disaster.
c. The media leans to the left, reporting something positive this close to an election might take away momentum from the Democrats.
d. Who says the media is unbiased? Ever since the acceptance of the term, 'activist journalists' clear and balance has been thrown out the window.

Answer 6

Get your news from NPR or PBS. NPR has done multiple stories about the relative calm in Bagdad, everyday people returning to the markets, refugees returning home, their lady reporter even did a story from a Bagdad market in the evening. Our US armed forces and Iraqi forces have been working together and the surge is making great strides for the Iraq citizens.

Answer 7

Isn't "good news" kind of relative in this situation? We're still pouring billions each month into Iraq, they still have a fractured government, they still have an infrastructure that's inteferior to pre-invasion conditions (schools, utilities, sewage, etc.), and, while decreased, they still have rampant bloodshed.

Want to know why fewer US troops are dying from roadside IEDs? Because now we mostly transport them at night, under secrecy, by helicopter to their destinations. Iraq's not any safer, we just found a very expensive, non-sustainable way of getting past the IEDs.

Oh, and let's not forget that things are heating up between the Kurds in Northern Iraq and Turkey.

I wish our troops and the Iraqis every success. I want them to be a peaceful, prosperous, soveriegn nation. But if current Iraq isn't the definition of a failed state, I don't know what is.

Oh, and don't worry about a Dem president claiming that he/she won the war - we're not gonna win the war, certainly not in the next 5-9 years.

Answer 8

I have heard some good news about Iraq on CNN they reported that a few days ago there was one day where no one died in sectarian violence since the beginning of the Iraq conflict however, 15 Americans have died so far this month. For those men and, their families there is no Merry Christmas this good news has come too late.

Answer 9

Yes the media is a dem tool with hollywood on there butt..and no the insurgents are not kicking our butt....thats what the media wants you to think...the real story is 100% of the firefights we are in we kick their butt....let the surge do its job let the military do their job and lets not have politicians try to run this war...its because of our military we are free today not politicians...people might find that hard to swallow but its true

Answer 10

There is no good news about Iraq. The conservative-biased media wants to tout the fact that murders are down. But the fact remains: murder still continues in Iraq, and all so that a handful of wealthy elitists, industrialists, oil barons and power brokers can become wealthier and more powerful.
Our courageous troops were conned into believing there was honorable purpose for this insane 'war'; Congress was lied to, and the American people were hoodwinked while still trying to recover emotionally from the events of 9-11-01.
675,000 Iraqis and 3,900 U.S. soldiers have given their lives so that the Bush family could 'settle the score' with Saddam Hussein, Dick Cheney can steal all of Iraq's oil, and the giant U.S. military-industrial complex [which Eisenhower warned us about] can boost its sagging profits from too many years of peace.

The #1 non-military 'benchmark' Bush wants is for the Iraqi Parliament to surrender two-thirds of Iraq's oil fields to big oil corporations, virtually allowing Exxon-Mobil and others to STEAL Iraq's most valuable economic resource.

The two top government contractors who have bellied up to the federal 'war trough' are the Carlyle Group and Halliburton, BOTH of whom have direct ties to the Bush-Cheney White House. Can anyone in his right mind truly believe this is all just "coincidence"???????

There is no "good news" out of Iraq. It's all a cesspool of lies, distortions, half-truths, fabrications, spin, and garbage designed to placate gullible Americans.

As Adolph Hitler once said: "How fortunate for governments that the people they administer don't think."
-RKO- 12/21/07

Answer 11

Exhaustion.
The number one concern of Americans is the economy.
Not the war, that should tell you something right there.
We won the war a long time ago, what we lost was the victory. Getting out now is what we are looking forward to, I just don't think the American public really cares what you call it, or if the Iraqis are happy, the only thing that will grab their attention is a headline, "Troops to come Home"