The Pew Research Center finds there has been a dramatic, double-digit jump in the percentage of Americans who believe that the military effort in Iraq is going well. You are the Washington Post. How do you play the story?:
a. You run a front-page story headlined "Study Finds Surge in Positive Public View of War Effort"; or
b. You run a story on page A10 headlined "Military Progress Doesn't Make War More Popular."
A dead giveaway, wasn't it, saying "you are the Washington Post"? Of course the correct answer is "b." As Ed Morrissey at Captains Quarters noted, WaPo managed not only to bury the story, but to put a gloomy headline on the news. Observes Ed:
When the rise in opposition to the war got reported before, the numbers made front page news. Their decline gets mid-section commentary, spun with economic speculation. Anyone see an agenda at play here?
Jules Critteden details how MSNBC spins the Pew story in similar fashion, and observes:
18 points. Double-digit increase. That’s a 60 percent uptick from February’s numbers. Nearly half of all Americans think things are going well.
Both organizations are marching in the proud MSM footsteps of the New York Times. When earlier this month news came that the US-led MNF had successfully routed al Qaeda completely out of Baghdad, the Times buried the story fathoms deep . . . on A19.
