Can't Make These Up: Old Media Searching Desperately for Bad News from Iraq

Photo of Tom Blumer.

The search for bad news relating to Iraq must be getting awfully difficult.

First example -- From the "Looking for, and Not Finding, a Dark Cloud on a Sunny Day" Department (HT Confederate Yankee, who says "you can almost feel their pain"):

'Fragging' Is Rare in Iraq, Afghanistan

American troops killed their own commanders so often during the Vietnam War that the crime earned its own name - "fragging."

But since the start of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the military has charged only one soldier with killing his commanding officer, a dramatic turnabout that most experts attribute to the all-volunteer military.

Yes, Associated Press reporter Estes Thompson actually spent over 650 words on the topic, "inspired" by only the second such Iraq-related incident, which is going to a military trial this week. In the process, he rehashes, almost nostaligically, the frequent fraggings (600, according to the Army, Thompson claims) that took place in Vietnam.

Second example -- From the "Inventing a Dark Cloud on a Sunny Day" Department:

As violence falls in Iraq, cemetery workers feel the pinch

Yes, showing sudden interest in the Iraqi economy, McClatchy writers Jay Price and Qasim Zein tell us that:

A drop in violence around Iraq has cut burials in the huge Wadi al Salam cemetery here by at least one-third in the past six months, and that's cut the pay of thousands of workers who make their living digging graves, washing corpses or selling burial shrouds.

All I can say is: Things must be going "awfully" well over there.

—Tom Blumer is president of a training and development company in Mason, Ohio, and is a contributing editor to NewsBusters


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Must Be Hard

To be a journalist and not have a happy day in your life.

Hussein is dead - they

Hussein is dead - they could mourn his loss every month with a special DNC tribute 

A service of the new NB respect police

True!

True indeed! lol

Princess Di needs the competition!

A very large portion of the

A very large portion of the neoPRAVDA news media must be crowding doctors' offices for antidepression Rxs ... or hangin out on NYCity street corners looking for crack dealers ...

MSM neglecting Palestinians

They are so distracted by this that they are neglecting the Palestinians plight in Israel. At least with this ongoing story they are provided with enough propaganda from the Palestinians to beat-up on the Jews daily. Easy money.

help wanted ad

Maybe those out of work gravediggers should come to the U.S. and help bury the dinosaur media. The bonus is that they'll be "doing work Americans don't want to do."

From the "Inventing a Dark

From the "Inventing a Dark Cloud on a Sunny Day" Department

I sent this article to my brother - Subject: Finding a dark cloud in every silver lining.

Great minds think alike. 

  Ignorance is bliss. It's easier to repeat a mindless slogan than to do some actual research.

Justifying their jobs

As the news out of Iraq cycles down, watch for two developments. First, for the journalists who remain, watch them ratchet up the sensationalism, to justify their own presence there. Second, since they've already admitted they won't dwell on good news, watch for news outlets to start pulling people out of Iraq, since it becomes less of a "hot spot."

That, in turn, will prove that the media's job isn't to report The News ... only the Bad News.

Second, since they've

Second, since they've already admitted they won't dwell on good news, watch for news outlets to start pulling people out of Iraq, since it becomes less of a "hot spot."

That deafening sound of thunder to come out of Iraq, if/when that happens, will be the applause coming from our troops ... Our, and the world's, news media have been the most spiteful and deadly insurgents in theater ...

Do you think ...

Do you think that if civilian and military deaths went down to zero, and the parliament came to complete agreement, and oil revenues made Iraq a rich nation, and the country staged a parade in public gratitude to the sacrifice of Americans ...

Do you think the media would cover it?

of course!

Of course the media would cover it...by mentioning the fact that bullet manufacturers are 'feeling the pinch', the parliment STILL hasn't addressed women's rights, Iraq has more money than us, and that parade had a ginormous carbon footprint.

Nebraskans for War: Peace through Strength

Yup ...

Yup ...

Yep,

they'd cover it by complaining of lack of representation by their favored minority groups; by claiming that the whole thing (peace, oil revenues, prosperity) was due only to massive corruption in the Iraqi government; and by finding one single down-and-out person or family to showcase as respresentative of the brutal outcome associated with a capitalistic society.

Yes, I'm convinced the MSM would cover this.

___________________________________ 

If you can read this, thank a teacher. If it is in English, thank a Soldier. - My barber

AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!!

is there ANYONE in the MSM that can even HINT at happiness over this amazing news?  We know that their goal is to get Billary into office riding this wave of defeat, but keeping the sadness up when deaths are down is despicable. 

Fragging

"since the start of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the military has charged only one soldier with killing his commanding officer ..."

 And the perp was a Muslim - - just doing what Muslims do.

And I believe the media

And I believe the media tried to make the Pat Tillman "friendly fire" death look like a fragging, since the higher-ups botched the handling of the facts ...

As violence falls in

As violence falls in Iraq, cemetery workers feel the pinch

In related news, cure for cancer puts health care workers in a bind.