The media and the war in Iraq

Westhawk:

The most remarkable finding from the Pew Research Center’s recent study about the American public’s knowledge of current events is that in February just 3% of all news stories were about the war in Iraq. This compares to 15% of stories in July 2007, and over 20% in January and February of 2007. Has the decline in violence and casualties in Iraq made the topic no longer newsworthy? Or has the mainstream media lost a battle of attrition and given up on attempting to influence American war policy?

Either explanation leaves the media looking poorly. The decline in media coverage of the war is perfectly correlated with the decline in American combat casualties. This finding reinforces the worst stereotype of the media’s decision-making, namely “if it bleeds, it leads.” Is the purpose of the media to inform the public about important policy issues? Was the war in Iraq only important when American casualties were high and now is not important when American casualties are sharply lower? Is this what editors and managers in the media believe?

The other explanation, also not flattering to the media, is that is has simply given up on its attempt to influence America’s Iraq war policy. The top managers, editors, and reporters in the American media have, in the main, elite educations and feel themselves responsible for what they see as a very important role in America’s democracy. With this outlook comes an either conscious or subconscious duty to shape the electorate’s opinion on public policy issues, including the U.S. government’s policy in Iraq.

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The media has lost interest in Iraq because its narrative has been proven wrong. Iraq is no longer quagmire city, much less country. This undermines the premise of much its reporting on the war since the end of major combat operations. They are missing a great story. Our military is defeating an insurgency and Iraqis are rejecting al Qaeda's terrorist philosophy. Instead of creating terrorist as the narrative have suggesting we are converting them into defenders against al Qaeda. I can understand why they would be reluctant to expose how wrong they and the Democrat left has been.