media's iraq coverage and blow-back

the media loves polls, gauging sentiment, and reporting on polls gauging sentiment...

unfortunately, the media sees through the prism of perhaps the most negative outlook on iraq. [fortunately,] the negativity hasn't entirely rubbed off on the general public, the military and the iraqis themselves. in fact, the people believe all this bad-mouthing the military effort in iraq may (surprise! suprise! surprise!) lower military morale [bugmenot login], further seeing the sniping as an attempt "gain a partisan political advantage."

this past weekend, the wall street journal suggests the speech bush should give [bugmenot login].

And we are winning. Soon Iraqi forces will be able to maintain order in the few hot spots that still exist in Iraq. We will stay the course until they are ready. We made no mistake ending Saddam's rule. We have brought not only freedom to Iraq, but progress to most of the Middle East. America should be proud of what it has accomplished. America will not cut and run until the Iraqis can manage their own security, and that will happen soon.

the speech lists the accomplishments while still addressing the violence and terrorism.

unfortunately, with the sign-off of arthur chrenkoff's Good news from Iraq series, only the conservative media covers it
...like the chicago sun-times

There's too much static noise out there regarding the war. It's filling a vacuum caused by the administration's failure to keep us regularly updated on what is happening throughout Iraq. It's time for the Bush administration to step up and tell us what is going on -- with regular reports, weekly updates, fireside chats, talks with soldiers -- through the entire country of Iraq.

We're getting our reports from hotel rooms in Baghdad.

It's time for the whole story from over there.

...and the ny sun

Does [Frank] Rich think his own colleague and the Associated Press are also part of what he derides as "propaganda" and "the disinformation assembly line"? And when it comes time for a new generation to ask their elders what they did during the war to end the tyranny of Saddam Hussein, what are the editors of the Times going to have to say for themselves?

now, if only this would hit the traditional MSM...but that's not likely given the media's sentiment...