Iraq and the Media

[August1991]

I was intrigued to see this report referring to fighting in Yemen in the past three weeks or so:

Sources close to Houthi have put the death toll from the clashes at about 200.

Admittedly, the toll may be smaller.

Reuters and Yemen

I have tried to find numbers for Iraq in a similar time frame and I found this:

Unrest in the month before interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi's government takes charge from the US-led coalition on June 30 has claimed hundreds of lives.

By my rough estimate, that is low hundreds.

Australian news source

Iraq obviously attracts alot more attention than Yemen. But in the Iraq case, one car bomb leads to numerous news reports spread out over several days. The impression differs from reality.

[Michael Hardner]

You have hit upon a very obvious, yet unknown fact about the news here: the most important news stories are often never heard. This is a shortcoming that affects stories favouring every political stripe.

For example, there are currently some countries engaged in human rights abuses that receive far less coverage than either Iraq or Cuba would.

My impression is that journalists uncover news much in the same way American Idol discovers talent.

In the 1950s and 1960s, when news was drier and less sensationalistic, we were content to let the academics and committee men run things. But IMO today, things are much more democratic; the common person is less likely to believe 'experts' and more likely to rely on his/her own instincts based on emotive response to what they see on television.

This leaves us with some choices to make. Either we, as a society, learn to disregard our natural emotional responses to television images in order to make a reasoned intellectual decision on issues...

or...

we live life at the tail end of visual media's emotional whip and hope that those in high office don't abuse the medium beyond the point of no return.

[theloniusfleabag]

Dear Mr. Hardner,

This leaves us with some choices to make. Either we, as a society, learn to disregard our natural emotional responses to television images in order to make a reasoned intellectual decision on issues...

or...

we live life at the tail end of visual media's emotional whip and hope that those in high office don't abuse the medium beyond the point of no return.

Amen, brother. Sadly, this is only a partial cure, (choosing the first paragraph) and mostly just a 'western' malaise. People have a long way to go.