ABC News Listens to Viewers' Concerns About Iraq Coverage

[RamboLiberal]

http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/story?id=1758483&gma=true

Over the last 24 hours, ABC News has been reading hundreds of messages sent in by viewers in response to President Bush's claim that the media are undermining support for war in Iraq.

Viewer opinions ran the gamut, but the vast majority believed the media were biased in their Iraq coverage.

"I ask you this from the bottom of my heart, for a solution to this, because it seems that our major media networks don't want to portray the good," a woman from West Virginia asked President Bush at a recent town hall.

Teena from Wisconsin agreed.

"If we have the capabilities of the media and we can see the blood, bombs, killing and horror, shouldn't we also see the teaching, cleanup, building, training of soldiers … and the many other great things I know our soldiers are doing for us?" she wrote.

[xultar]

1. OH MY FUCKIN GOD!!!!!!!!!!!! PLEASE KILL ME!!!!!

[Jacobin]

30. Military families LIVE for this shit

Okay, not all of them, but I've had a military mom go on and on about this stuff because they don't want to think their sons have sacrificed their sanity in Iraq for nothing and they want to believe that their sons are over there doing humanitarian work, because their life's effort in raising their sons would be for naught, if this delusion were not true.

I understand that delusions, but it doesn't make it any easier to get good policy going to have this kind of claptrap rattling around, that's for sure

[Lance_Boyle]

2. In other news

Massive astroturf factories have recently opened in both W. VA. and WI.

Teena from WI needs a refresher of the Abu Ghraib pics and videos. THOSE are the "great things... our soldiers are doing for us." Dumbass.

[Born Free]

54. change the law, change the news...placebos are better

It's ironic, the bush coward gets caught breaking the law, so the people look the other way as they chang the law, the bush coward makes poor decisions and creates bad situations that are reported in the news and the people want the news to stop reporting it...I admit there are times when I just like to ignore it all, take a break, but these people apparently want to ignore reality completely. My best guess is they just can't accept what the bush coward is doing to the USA, they can't believe this is the same USA we grew up in - the bush coward is the opposite of everything a president of USA should be.

[MadMaddie]

3. These people are stupid....

although entitled to their opinions...

I am just guessing that these people that are writing in have not been directly impacted by the war...loosing someone in their family or friends in the Iraq debacle.....

No one is claiming our soldiers are not doing good work...but to ignore the deaths that are increasing in frequency is unrealistic....

[LisaM]

5. Well they aren't WRITING this stuff - just spitting it back

clearly a coordinated campaign.

[MadMaddie]

6. True.....sigh....

[John Q. Citizen]

31. bingo! It's all the exact same talking points, repackaged. It's called

catapulting the propaganda.

[radfringe]

52. It's the bushies MO

1. discredit the critics
2. deny responsibility
3. blame the media

prime example was Katrina -- katrina wasn't all that bad - it's the media's fault for reporting the truth

If things in Iraq are going so great, then the reporters would be able to safely leave their "green zones" and we would be getting reports of "progress"

basically - the "some people" - "other people" - "A few people" strawmen isn't working - so blame the media

there may be some good thing happening in Iraq - but I wouldn't call it a smashing success when our troops are still getting killed, when the Iraqi's are killing each other, and things in general are still dangerous

it's apparant that "Operation: HAPPY TALK" isn't working, so they've switched to "Operation: Blame the media".

[katty]

21. yes, really, freakin' dangerous stupidity!

[mikeytherat]

4. "teaching, cleanup, building...our soldiers are doing for US?"

US? US?

Teena forgot to add:
"F**k the glass, I'll just mainline the Kool-Aid, thank-you."

mikey_the_rat

PS
How can all you dipshits writing into ABC already know all this "good stuff" if it hasn't been reported?

[Autobot77]

51. Because they are constantly being fed BS talking points

That there are a lot of good things going on in Iraq but the librul media does not show them. Its to keep the kool-aid drinkers from actually questioning the war.

[MidwestTransplant]

7. I recommend they go have a look for themselves at how well things

are going over there. Nothing works better than seeing with your own eyes.

[Delphinus]

24. Wonderful idea.

That's the only way they're going to have their eyes opened.

[Roland99]

8. Let me guess, Limbaughlls and Insanity started a letter-writing campaign?

Or maybe that PAC out of California?

[RamboLiberal]

10. Chimpy and Rove started this campaign

and the RW punditry and koolaid drinking Freepers are carrying out their orders from the top. Hell they had a plant in the audience yesterday at the idiot-in-chief's town hall in Wheeling ask the Chimp why the media isn't covering the good news from Iraq.

I suggest we all drop a email to the media to counter this crap.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It seems our major media networks don‘t want to portray the good, they just want to focus—

BUSH: Just got to keep talking, and one of the (INAUDIBLE)-- there‘s word of mouth, there‘s blogs, there‘s in Internet, there‘s all kinds of ways to communicate which is literally changing the way people are getting their information.

And so if you‘re concerned, I would suggest that you reach out to some of the groups that are supporting the troops, that have got Internet sites, and just keep the word, keep the word moving. It‘s—and—that‘s one way to deal with an issue without suppressing a free press. We will never do that in America. I mean, if the minute we start trying to suppress our press, we look like the Taliban.

And Olbermann's great rant last night against Laura Ingraham:

But before we do, a note about Laura Ingraham‘s comments. I‘ve known her a long time. I‘ll in fact give you the caveat that I‘ve known her socially.

But that hotel balcony crack was unforgivable. It was unforgivable to the memory of David Bloom, it was unforgivable in consideration of Bob Woodruff and Doug Vogt, it was unforgivable in the light of what happened to Michael Kelly and what happened to Michael Weiskopf. It was unforgivable with Jill Carroll still a hostage in Iraq.

And it‘s not only unforgivable of her, it was desperate, and it was stupid.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11975495/

[Mandate My Ass]

9. Waaaaaaaaahhhhhhh. I want sunshine blown up my skirt!!!

Please don't do your jobs and report the record number of deaths and executions and explosions and white phosphorous and IEDs and maiming and orphans and torture and limbless soldiers and death squads and blasted cities and lack of water, food, medicine, electricity, jobs for Iraqis and billions being skimmed by US corps and how we've been lied to all along and are now being fleeced.

We want to feel good cuz George and Dick said so! :eyes:

[LibDemAlways]

11. Snotty Scotty kept referring at his "press" briefing

today to all the good stuff going on over there. But he didn't provide a single example - and not one so-called reporter called him on it. I was practically shouting at the tv, "Morons, get off your asses and do your job.....'Scott, you repeatedly mention that the press is not covering all the positive news coming out of Iraq. Please elablorate on this. Please share with us and the American people 10 specific examples of positive progress being made.'

But no, they sit there like a bunch of smug, self-satisfied dolts (Helen excepted), tossing softballs and allowing some of the most inane non-responses and outright lies to go unchallenged.

[Arkansas Granny]

29. Exactly! I would love to hear some good news coming out of Iraq.

To think of over 2,300 of our soldiers dead and countless thousands of Iraqis killed and nothing good to show for it is obscene. If this administration knows some good news about Iraq, why aren't they sharing it with us?

[JohnnyRingo]

12. I saw a poll yesterday that asked if people "believed they get the real

story from Iraq"
I was alarmed to see a 56%-44% result.
If the media thinks enough prople want their news delivered with blinders on....sadly, that's what they'll get.

Maybe Fox News can build a Hollywood set of Baghdad with children dancing around soldiers and adults with purple fingers gushing about the open schools.

I expect the propaganda machine to go to steroid level.

[SammyWinstonJack]

13. So hand her some rose colored glasses or does she already own a pair?

:puke:

[coalition_unwilling]

14. I thought Randi Rhodes made a great point yesterday, when she

said Bush and his supporters should be happy that the MSM is showing IEDs, because that's the "good news" out of Iraq. In other words, her point was that the MSM to this day continues to sugar-coat the reality of life in occupied Iraq.

[saigon68]

25. Here's some GOOD NEWS Caution GRAPHIC VIOLENCE

Put this in your pipe and smoke it

[Starbucks Anarchist]

53. She had a great analogy:

"Why is the media focusing on Katrina? Why aren't they reporting all the good weather?"

[Arkansas Granny]

15. I think we should all encourage the media to show us the good

news from Iraq. We should insist to be shown some good news. My guess is, however, that they will find precious little good news to report. The fact that they have had 3 elections might be good news, but they haven't been able to form a government yet. The rehabilitation of the schools might be good news if the children didn't have to risk being shot or blown up to attend.

Good news, to me, would be that violence was diminishing, people weren't being killed in the streets every day, all Iraqis had clean water and electricity, among other things.

[sojourner]

23. That's exactly what I wrote...show us the reality. The good and the bad.

I have a feeling that seeing the same three schools opened over and over would get to be pretty transparent as to the GOOD NEWS!

[OKIsItJustMe]

16. The responsibility of a free press

http://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/historics/USSC_CR_0403_0713_ZC.html

...
In the First Amendment, the Founding Fathers gave the free press the protection it must have to fulfill its essential role in our democracy. The press was to serve the governed, not the governors. The Government's power to censor the press was abolished so that the press would remain forever free to censure the Government. The press was protected so that it could bare the secrets of government and inform the people. Only a free and unrestrained press can effectively expose deception in government. And paramount among the responsibilities of a free press is the duty to prevent any part of the government from deceiving the people and sending them off to distant lands to die of foreign fevers and foreign shot and shell. ...

[appleannie1]

17. In order to report good news

there would have to be good news to report. End of discussion.

[wellst0nev0ter]

18. ABC Should Kindly Tell These Idiots To Go Fuck Themselves

From Jake Tapper, ABC News Correspondent in Baghdad:

Struck by this phenomenon, my producers and I called Iraqi TV and spoke to Amjad Hamid, the manager of the entertainment division. He seemed very proud of a new sitcom set to debut next month. In 15 half-hour episodes, "Me and Layla" - starring Odei Abdel-Sattar, an Iraqi Danny DeVito - will show the misadventures of a hapless Romeo. Hamid invited us to visit the set to interview the producer, director and actors. He was convinced that what they were trying to do was important.
. . .For us, it was a chance to cover something besides car bombs, carnage and body counts. That perhaps understandable focus as well as concerns for our own security have clearly hindered the ability of journalists to tell stories about Iraqi society, about the less obvious ways that Iraqis are trying to rebuild their country.

. . .For us, it was a chance to cover something besides car bombs, carnage and body counts. That perhaps understandable focus as well as concerns for our own security have clearly hindered the ability of journalists to tell stories about Iraqi society, about the less obvious ways that Iraqis are trying to rebuild their country.

. . .Yet tragedy still has a way of rearing its head.

We had been on the set for less than an hour when Mustafa got a phone call that clearly upset him. Grabbing Abed-Jasim by the arm, Mustafa took him aside and told him that gunmen had assassinated Hamid, the entertainment-division chief, outside his Baghdad home just minutes earlier.

The director told the cast and crew. Shock and grief turned to terror. Everyone on the set immediately became restless, anxious. Eyes moist with tears began darting about the street. Iraqi TV is widely perceived as being pro-Shiite and pro-government; the Sunni-leaning Baghdad TV had just had one of its anchors shot and killed a few days before. Not that any of the violence in today's Iraq needs a reason.

Mustafa told the crew to break down; within minutes everyone had jumped into cars and minivans and fled. My crew and I weren't far behind. Iraqi TV put a black band of mourning on the top left corner of its screen and spent much of the rest of the day covering Hamid's funeral.

It is American journalists' duty to try to look at the broader picture in Iraq - telling the stories about those brave souls who seek to restore normalcy and laughter into the daily routine here. But there is no denying that the horrific violence will often make that task impossible.

[slor]

19. Facts of Mass Destruction? n/t

[sojourner]

20. aaaarrgghhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I can't take it. I have to go to work. I must take a shower to get rid of the smell of stupidity that reigns supreme over that forum.

:puke:

[rodeodance]

22. GoodnewsABC. will be the new name.

[Tracer]

26. If the networks could show some decent reparations ...

... and I DO mean that word in its precise meaning ...

then I wouldn't mind.

But it would have to be shown without any lies or misinformation.


Think that'll happen?

[rodeodance]

27. msnbc's was "BUSH on the BLOGS" segment (here)

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x735992

[deadparrot]

28. Okay, Teena...you want to go see all the happiness?

Enlist. See all the shining positivity firsthand.

[cantstandbush]

32. Does ABC understand what an organized write-in campaign is?

Are they aware that this is a much used tactic of the RW-nuts? Are they going to be swayed by their own facts and the truth or by their own polls?

[Barrett808]

33. Go ahead, report on the "reconstruction" and "women allowed to work"

That's a tidy 10 seconds of news:

"Reconstruction has halted."

"Women terrified to leave their homes."

Aaaaand we're out.

[donkeyotay]

34. Think they're going to listen to us complain about their coverage next?

We wrote them about their whoring for this administration's war, and I don't recall them wringing their hands over our thoughts about their coverage... and I'm willing to bet we've sent more than "hundreds" of emails.

I never cease to be amazed by the capacity of this administration to blame everyone but themselves for their policies and the media's willingness to help them.

[magellan]

35. So these people will feel better about the bloody mess we've made

...in Iraq if the CM shows them a school being built? A school in return for dead children makes it okay? This represents American values?

And of course the CM will do it -- if public opinion wants good news and it'll take the heat off them from the administration, good news it is. God forbid they should bite the hand that feeds them too hard.

[young_at_heart]

36. Do these people live in the Twilight Zone?

In order to show the "good" news, 95% of the other news would have to be ignored. The question I have is....how low will this administration go to "make their case"?

[WinkyDink]

37. Somebody needs to tell these morons that WE ARE THE ONES

who DESTROYED everything like SCHOOLS, and HOMES, ....that now need "cleanup, building"!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Barrett808]

38. Here's the link to the forum, which is clearly being freeped:

How Should the Media Cover Iraq?
http://forums.go.com/abcnews/GMA/thread?start=0&threadID=328201

Here's one interesting post:

http://forums.go.com/abcnews/GMA/messages?username=sk_on_abc

A question on everyone's minds. If only 31%, as reported in the GMA piece, think the media coverage is skewed, then shouldn't the opinions on the blog reflect that.

There's a very good reason why not! Mike Krempasky's political organization has been recruiting people to post to this forum whether or not they actually watch Good Morning America.

Mike is the former political director of American Target Advertising -- a political spam firm hired by the GOP -- and has been closely associated with administration efforts to control online communications in the past.

Another reason you have to take online forums with a grain of salt. The web site founded by Krempasky, redstate.org, states:

This is a chance for supporters of the president, the troops, and the mission to have a direct impact on coverage of the war by at least this one media outlet. Post a comment now and help support the president! Oh, and ABC, you asked for it.

The fact that an 18-month old email from an ABC producer mysteriously made its way to the Drudge report just as this story broke should be telling -- and the fact that some folks have been desperately trying to use it to distract the forums -- should be telling.

If I were the producer I would be on the phone with my attorney to determine if that email was obtained in any way through Bush's illegal wiretapping programs.

If it was, he should sue. A president has no immunity from violating constitutional rights and a citizen can sue even while he remains in office.

Susan
Uxbridge, MA

[BlueInPhilly]

39. Can we DU this forum?

If the numbnuts can do it, SO CAN WE!

Fucking retards!

[Barrett808]

40. I signed up with my "junk email addy" and posted this:

For those who are laboring under the misconception that the commercial mass media are underreporting "good news" from Iraq, Chris Allbritton has a message:

The Big Lie
http://www.back-to-iraq.com/archives/2006/03/the_big_lie.php

...Let’s conduct a little thought experiment. “The media” here are fiercely competitive. Everyone of us is looking for any angle — any! — that will break news, make our stories stand out or otherwise distinguish ourselves. That’s what journalists do, and the corps here comes from the entire ideological spectrum, from the conservative to the socialist. But weirdly, this herd of cats — which is what we could be best be compared to — have all come to the same conclusion: Iraq is a mess. ...

http://forums.go.com/abcnews/GMA/messages?username=SydBarrett808

[stepnw1f]

41. I Want to Have a Happy War...

Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

[cap]

44. we need to ask ABC news why their coverage differs so dramatically

from that of Western Europe. Major stories about US involvement in Iraq that are not favorable to the administration are not covered here. Let's take a hypothetical: Even if the majority of people in the US want only positive coverage of the war, the media has an obligation to report the truth.

ABC news should answer why its coverage differs so dramatically from that of the major press in Europe starting from the coverage of the anti-war demonstrations in Europe before the start of the war where millions demonstrated against the war. These millions demonstrated against the war because European media presented the facts on yellow cake and WMD early on, well before that of the US media.

Truth is not a popularity contest. Is ABCnews a game show or a new show? If it is a game show, then by all means it should bow to popular will. If it is a news show, it must at least answer the critiques shown by the European media.

[stepnw1f]

45. I was Being Sarcastic

[against all enemies]

42. Maybe a live report from Bob Woodruff would help.

He could give a really good report on how safe Iraq is.

[daleo]

43. A new traffic light was installed in the Green Zone

Hurray!

[Charlie Brown]

46. reporting news should not be subject to the whims of public opinion

When the US is detaining entire villages, shooting bystanders, and launching braod "insurgent sweep" operations, that is the news, not some fluffy drivel about school-children and "great things our soldiers are doing for us."

If there's anything in Iraq that I think has gone UNDER-reported, it's the lack of electricity, water, and basic necessities in some of the country's most populous urban areas. But I'm sure "Teena from Wisconsin" would not enjoy hearing about those boring realities.

If these sheep want propaganda, they can listen to Hannity/Rush/Boortz/O'Reilley/whoever as often as they wish.

[Mad_Dem_X]

56. Good point, Charlie Brown!

The news should be the NEWS, whether people like it or not.

[killbotfactory]

47. War is good, fun, and wholesome!

Look at all the schools we recarpteded! Who cares about all that "sectarian violence" killing people by the hundreds every week?

[Raine]

48. Ignorance is bliss

but it won't change what is really happening just cause you don't hear it. :silly:

[hellbound-liberal]

49. Let me guess,John Stossel has a new editorial position at ABC

If anybody takes anything this "Mickey Mouse" network has to say seriously, then I suggest they are as stupid as KKKarl Rove thinks they are. ABC is a cheap watered-down version of FAUX Snooze without the chutzpah. If anybody could aim for a lower level of intelligence than Fox it would have to be the network that brought us "The View", "20/20" and "Good Morning America"

[HuffleClaw]

50. wow, some poor folks have REALLY been propagandized.

i feel sorry for them. some day soon, they will realize the truth and be well and truly appalled at their prior support for the war.

[gasperc]

As a matter of fact, that's what Bob Woodward was reporting

on the good things the soldiers were doing when an IED exploded, shrapnel hit him in the brain and almost killed him. Reporters can't leave the green zone without facing a 90% chance of getting seriously injured.

No doubt that soldiers are doing or trying to do good things in Iraq however they are surrounded by a sea of violence and despair.

People try to do good here in the states yet there are daily killings here in Detroit, 76% of Baltimore's Black High School students drop out, it goies on and on....

[gasperc]

55. As a matter of fact, that's what Bob Woodward was reporting

on the good things the soldiers were doing when an IED exploded, shrapnel hit him in the brain and almost killed him. Reporters can't leave the green zone without facing a 90% chance of getting seriously injured.

No doubt that soldiers are doing or trying to do good things in Iraq however they are surrounded by a sea of violence and despair.

People try to do good here in the states yet there are daily killings here in Detroit, 76% of Baltimore's Black High School students drop out, it goies on and on....

[gauguin57]

60. That would be Bob WOODRUFF.

Woodward sits on his butt in Washington, shilling for the Bushies.

[Barrett808]

57. K & R - Go DU the ABC forum:

How Should the Media Cover Iraq?
http://forums.go.com/abcnews/GMA/thread?start=0&threadID=328201

[w8liftinglady]

58. done.

My son Has been to Afghanistan once and Iraq twice.He is not the same person-a hollow,empty shell of a man where a vibrant young man once lived.He can not tell me what he saw over there.We have no concept of what those soldiers are going through.They are coming back with severe PTSD.We don't see their funerals,and the reports of wounded soldiers are sanitized.You are being negligent by trying to paint a rosy glow to this.This is WAR,people-children are being blown up and burned.Our kids are being mind-raped by a president who can't even tell us why we are there.How DARE you propagate this propaganda,while your journalists are being wounded and killed over there.You have spiut on their graves by not reporting the truth.In this case-the truth is not pretty.Shame on you,ABC,for selling out-you used to be the principled network.

[Barrett808]

62. Powerful, thanks for posting.

I very much hope your son is able to get some help for his PTSD.

[gauguin57]

59. This makes me want to eat carbohydrates.

Lots ... and lots ... of carbohydrates.

[BushOut06]

61. There is NOTHING positive in Iraq. Nada, zilch, zip.

Iraq is on the verge of full-blown civil war, if it isn't already. Many places still dont have electricity or running water. Sharia law is being imposed in portions of Iraq - yes, the same Sharia law that the Taliban embraced, and the same law that has condemned a Christian convert to death. Our servicemen are being killed at a growing rate.

What positive news is there to cover in Iraq?

[mitchum]

63. Astroturf

[dipsydoodle]

64. Suggest you refer Teena from Winconsin

to this if she wants to see the appalling non rebuilding coverage :
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/newsnight/films/default.stm

Look for Missing Billions. I found it easier to watch using Realplayer but that maybe cos I'm on Windows 98SE - not XP.

This link was also mentioned on another thread the day after it was broadcast and at which time it was not certain how long it would remain posted. Video is the whole film - think so anyway from memory.