Under reporting heroism

Robert J. Caldwell:

On any given day, American soldiers and Marines fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan perform extraordinary feats of courage and sacrifice in the service of their country. Hundreds of these unsung heroes have been awarded this country's highest decorations for valor in combat, often given posthumously: Navy Crosses, Silver Stars, Bronze Stars, Distinguished Service Crosses and, in one case so far, the Medal of Honor.

Yet, with rare exceptions – Army Sgt. First Class Paul R. Smith's Medal of Honor among them, fortunately – these acts of valor go mostly unreported and unknown outside the brotherhood of arms that is the United States military.

The Media Research Center, a conservative watchdog group that monitors television news, complained last fall, for example, that the major television networks (ABC, NBC and CBS) devoted only eight stories from Jan. 1 through Sept. 30, 2005, reporting on the heroism of American troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. By contrast, the networks devoted 79 stories during this same period to instances of alleged mistakes or misconduct by U.S. military forces.

This imbalance – more precisely, bias – can only be called shameful. The bravery and devotion to duty demonstrated on a daily basis by tens of thousands of U.S. servicemen and women, volunteers all, who put their lives on the line get short shrift, eclipsed by a drumbeat of negative coverage.

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Caldwell goes on to give the stories of just a few of the heros.