IRAQ: Reportng on Bremer's departure speech

General Michael Sullivan writes: "The Los Angeles Times, along with other major news sources (BBC, New York Times, Washington Post), have not been reporting fair and balanced news but have emphasized their personal  agenda.  They all report the news with a biased, anti Bush, anti Iraqi War main thrust that gives their readers an overall, false impression of what has taken place in Iraq".  Mike calls our attention to "Blogging the watchdogs"
by John Leo (U.S. News and World Report, 7/19/ 04), from which here is an excerpt: "On June 28, Paul Bremer gave a farewell speech as he stepped down as U.S. administrator in Iraq. Some Iraqis, at least, found the talk moving. Ali Fadhil, 34, a resident in pediatrics at a Baghdad hospital, watched it on television with a group in the cafeteria. He said Bremer's words choked up even a onetime supporter of April's Shiite uprising. We have this information about the Bremer speech because Fadhil and his brothers are bloggers who file their own reports on the Internet ( iraqthemodel.blogspot.com). I had never heard of "Iraq the Model," but Margaret Wylie of Newhouse News Service produced a good story June 29 about Fadhil's blogging and Bremer's talk.

Word that Bremer actually gave the speech is something of a collector's item among American reporters. The Washington Post said Bremer left without giving a talk. The Los Angeles Times did worse. It missed the speech, then insulted Bremer for not giving it. A July 4 Times "news analysis" said: "L. Paul Bremer III, the civilian administrator for Iraq, left without even giving a final speech to the country--almost as if he were afraid to look in the eye the people he had ruled for more than a year." This is a good one-sentence example of what readers object to in much Iraq reporting--dubious or wrong information combined with a heavy load of attitude from the reporter. Not sorry. Bloggers in the United States have been all over this story, quoting one another, leaning on the Washington Post and the Los Angeles Times for an apology or a correction".

RH: I always read John Leo with much appreciation, and I was struck with his praise of bloggers.  Undoubtedly they bring out facts which the main media ignore, but they also spread false rumors which no established news source would let pass.  As for Bremer's departure ceremony, it was a surprise, and very few newsmen were present.  They live in mortal danger, so lapses can be understood. Whether the reaction of Ali Fadhil to Bremer's speech was typical of the Itaqis generally is open to question.