Media Coverage of Iraq Falls Sharply

Anyone know what happened in Iraq yesterday? If we go to Juan Cole's Informed Comment, we see that a security agreement between President Bush and Nuri al Maliki is falling through. The "agreement" has all the earmarks of a treaty so, of course, it's not a treaty according to the White House -- if it were, Congress would have to ratify it. Bush is trying to do an end-run around the next President and Congress, roping them into continuing his stupid, brutal, and pointless war. It's hard to see the logic here -- treaties have the force of law, an "agreement" is basically nothing. No one would be legally bound by it. Bush's reasoning, as it so often is, isn't reasonable. His efforts on this front can't make any lasting difference.

Where Bush's respect for his Constitutional obligations is non-existent, al Maliki's respect for his parliament is much more present. He put the treaty -- excuse me, "agreement" -- to the Iraqi legislature and it's going nowhere. "Al-Hayat reports in Arabic that both Sunni and Shiite Iraqis have united to reject the draft of a security agreement proposed by the United States," Cole tells us. Since the agreement would give US troops complete freedom of movement in Iraq, lawmakers of that country see it as compromising Iraqi autonomy.

If you haven't heard of any of this, there's a reason. The media isn't covering it.

American Journalism Review:

Armando Acuna, public editor of the Sacramento Bee, turned a Sunday column into a public flogging for both his editors and the nation's news media. They had allowed the third-longest war in American history to slip off the radar screen, and he had the numbers to prove it.

The public also got a scolding for its meager interest in a controversial conflict that is costing taxpayers about $12.5 billion a month, or nearly $5,000 a second, according to some calculations. In his March 30 commentary, Acuna noted: "There's enough shame.. for everyone to share."

He had watched stories about Iraq move from 1A to the inside pages of his newspaper, if they ran at all. He understood the editors' frustration over how to handle the mind-numbing cycles of violence and complex issues surrounding Operation Iraqi Freedom. "People feel powerless about this war," he said in an interview in April.

I came across this piece at Truthdig, who said, "If ever there was required reading, this article by Sherry Ricchiardi in the American Journalism Review would be it." Reading through, you wish you could require it of the media.

"During the first 10 weeks of 2007, Iraq accounted for 23 percent of the newshole fornetwork TV news," Ricchiardi writes. "In 2008, it plummeted to 3 percent during that period. On cable networks it fell from 24 percent to 1 percent, according to a study by the Project for Excellence in Journalism." The media have now lost interest in Iraq. It's so five minutes ago...

[CLICK TO READ FULL POST]