American media’s shallow coverage of war in Iraq

With the death of six U.S. soldiers in a downed helicopter on Friday, the death toll for this… With the death of six U.S. soldiers in a downed helicopter on Friday, the death toll for this first week of November reached thirty-two American casualties in Iraq. That’s compared to thirty-one in the whole month of September and forty-two for October. After the May declaration of an end to hostilities, American casualties have risen significantly. But don’t worry, this is just a rebuilding process. Like I said, the hostilities have ended.

In retaliation, American soldiers blew up the houses of suspected insurgents in Iraqi neighborhoods – key word being suspected, not proven. We are trying to instill our own democratic values using the reckless violence and aggression our armed men and women are currently risking their lives to protect us against.

Strangely enough, though, the current bloodshed doesn’t seem to be a big deal to the media. I never would have known that on more than one occasion American troops have fired on and killed unarmed Iraqi protesters if I hadn’t had a spell of insomnia and seen footage about it in some documentary on WQED at three in the morning. Thirty-two seems like a lot of people dying, seeing as how it used to take a whole month or more for that many American soldiers to get killed. Yet I read the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette every day and this is the first time I’ve heard these statistics.

The American media’s coverage of the situation in Iraq is pretty slack-assed, especially compared to other countries. This has created a highly dangerous situation. We have a president who doesn’t think twice about committing to armed conflict, a congress that can’t or won’t restrain him, and an incensed but uninformed public.

I believe the average American cares about what’s happening to our men and women serving in the Middle East and makes the effort to read or watch the news in order to stay up to date. But they aren’t really being told anything. An anchorperson reads the latest casualties, they cut to a twenty-second interview with a soldier or a pissed-off Iraqi, then something about how dangerous the area is where the deaths occurred and how the rest of Iraq is under control except for the region where more soldiers will get killed tomorrow. Then Bush makes some statements about “our” resolution to stay until the job is done and finally we’re told that the reporters have no more information at this time and it seems like they never get any more.

So how are we supposed to stay informed when the major news networks aren’t informing us? There’s a reason the news always comes on before work, after dinner, and before bedtime. We watch the major networks because they broadcast when we have the time to sit down and watch the news. Those of us who don’t have cable can’t turn on C-span whenever we get the chance. Everyone can’t get on the world band radio or the Internet and get the news from the British Broadcasting Corp. Whenever real in-depth reporting occurs it’s always on Charlie Rose or some other hardly-ever-watched program on public television. Old people and little kids watch public television. We need this kind of journalism in the more accessible news that millions of us watch every day.

Our prevailing nationalism isn’t helping us get the information we need either. Media networks must be careful not to impinge on the viewing public’s sense of decency. Show us all the dead Iraqis you want, but make sure they’re combatants and not innocent civilians. And never, ever show us our own dead. I’ll admit I get a weird twist in my stomach whenever I see a photo of a dead American soldier. The hidden reason for this is because it’s shocking to see one of our own be a casualty. We don’t think realistically about our own human losses because we always win the war. But our men and women die, just as terribly as the enemy’s.

The patriotic accolades we give our war dead are deserved but the fact that the person is dead remains after the flag is draped over and the coffin is lowered with salutes Somebody’s mother or somebody’s son is gone forever, and the loss will always be felt. The media thinks we cannot handle this kind of information. It’s given minimal attention so that it doesn’t break through our mental filters and leave an imprint on our sensitive consciousness.

As hard as it is to swallow, we need the truth. The American media needs to get much, much more in depth with their coverage in Iraq. Integrity should become more important than commercial viability. And journalists should refuse to be afraid of public and government censure. This is a time when there needs to be as much bravery in journalism as there is in our military.

Seth Steinbacher sucks. Jeer him at ssteinbacher@pittnews.com.