One thing that is clear. US media companies do not spend anywhere as much time or effort in gathering facts about other countries as the media in those countries spends on reporting US events. The effect is that our views are distorted by the very fact that US media companies have defined "the story" for us, or "the story" gets lost amid the focus on US internal happenings.
Nothing makes this more clear than the way that the Vice Presidential debates last night focused on Iraq but ignored some of the most critical events. While moderator Gwen Ifill mentioned Paul Bremer's comments on US troop levels in the debate, an even more important event in Iraq did not even make into the news.
I have recently become aware of the Iraqi Press Monitor, a service that summarizes and translates 7 top stories gleaned from the Iraqi free press each day. For October 5, one major story was that the Shia leader Sistani has directed that the message (sermon) from the Mosques in Karballa and Najaf speak to the importance of holding the elections in January, on time. He also is urging Shia political parties to work together to consolidate their influence. Had Sistani withheld his support the elections would not have had a chance. With his support, the elections have a high probability of success. So why was this not mention in our media? They have already defined the story of events in Iraq primarily in terms of how it affects the US campaign. They have it backwards. The campaigns will have to deal with what happens in Iraq.
After spending some time reading Iraqi media, I am convinced that Cheney had it more right than Edwards, but you will never know from the way the US press covers (up?) the story.
Posted by at October 6, 2004 09:23 AM