Media Bias in Iraq? One Reporter Hits Back

Posted in Politics/Economics, World on March 27th, 2006

Recent Republican criticisms of media bias in report on Iraq prompted this interview on CNN’s Reliable Sources. Lara Logan, CBS News Baghdad correspondent sharply defends her reporting and that of her peers and even makes the case that coverage has if anything been kind. She points out several key facts, including:

• Travel is sharply limited as the U.S. military requires that journalists travel only under military guard.
• Military commanders often prevent reporters from covering successful reconstruction efforts as they place those successes at risk of attack. They don’t have the ability to move around the country.
• Many more American soldiers die every week than are covered by the major media outlets.
• Countless Iraqi civilians come forward with claims of American soliders’ abuse, but those aren’t reported.
• Reconstruction efforts aren’t going well, of the 1.5 million jobs that were supposed to be created by the efforts only 77,000 jobs have been created thus far.
• Security is the dominate consideration for military commanders and Iraqi civilians. Journalists are held prisoner by the security situation. Security dominates every event in Iraqi.

The Video:

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