The Media's Dereliction of Duty

OpinionEditorials.com
By Robin Mullins Boyd

"The media has consistently focused on alleged atrocities by US soldiers since the war in Iraq began, but it recently has gone on a feeding frenzy. Ever since John Murtha announced that “our Marines killed Iraqi civilians in cold blood”, the media has been on a mission to publicize and dramatize any report that comes out of Iraq regarding alleged bad acts by our soldiers.

The stories are splashed on the front pages. They make the cover stories in magazines and are usually called “special reports”. Day after day, details are touted as “breaking news” in the media. Anonymous sources and neighbors of the victims are cited as “experts”. Photos of Iraqis pointing to bullet holes in walls and blood stains on the floor are published as evidence of crimes by US military. Every story about any minutia of information surrounding the investigation includes a rehash of the “alleged acts” and a recounting of all the “other investigations” of other atrocities. Every story has an undercurrent of “this is just the tip of the iceberg.” Read more.