MaxedOutMama
Wednesday, April 20, 2005
Bad Reporting Corrected
I've been reading Iraqi bloggers and Arab newspapers to get more perspective on the situation there for quite a while, so I've become inured to terrible reporting by the traditional US press. Too inured. With assistance from Haider Ajina, Chrenkoff debunks recent news coverage about anti-US demonstrations in Iraq on the 2nd anniversary of the toppling of Saddam Hussein's statue in Baghdad.
This is one of the sample articles (LA Times) I read (The headline was "Livid Iraq Protesters Tell U.S. to Get Out"):
This is one of the sample articles (LA Times) I read (The headline was "Livid Iraq Protesters Tell U.S. to Get Out"):
Chanting "Death to America!" and burning effigies of President Bush and Saddam Hussein, tens of thousands of Iraqis flooded central Baghdad on Saturday in what police called the largest anti-American protest since the fall of Baghdad exactly two years ago.and:
Carrying banners that read "Go Out" and "Leave Our Country," marchers hit the streets early Saturday, blocking roads and causing traffic jams around the capital. Most of the protesters came from the Baghdad slum of Sadr City, but busloads arrived from Kut, Amarah, Baqubah and other cities. Some estimates put the number of protesters at 300,000.So, that sounds like there is widespread sentiment for us to leave, right? But here is the story as reported to Chrenkoff. A poll showed that less than 13% of Iraqis want the US to get out now. And about that demonstration - well, this is what Haider Ajina wrote to Chrenkoff:
Most of the U.S. media portrayed it as a massive anti American demonstration in the streets of Iraq. I noticed, however, from Iraqi Arabic newspapers that most the demonstrations were against terrorism & calling for SaddamÂ’s trial & hanging (all these signs were in Arabic). I called my father in Baghdad to confirm this and he confirmed it. My father then confirmed that Al Sadr had asked his followers to demonstrate for the withdrawal of foreign troops, he also said that this group was very small and almost insignificant compared to the rest who were calling for SaddamÂ’s trial & hanging and those against terrorism. My father said the Iraqi media reported the number like this 'about 200,000 demonstrators of which 8,000-10,000 were Al-Sadr & Sunni supporters' (strange bed fellows). He also said that when he listened to the Iraqi elected officials (on live T.V.) in the assembly, that every one (every one including those Sunnis initially opposed to the elections), every man and woman assembly member, reiterated the importance of foreign and specifically U.S. troops staying in Iraq till Iraq is ready to take over its own security. Most of them expressed their thanks for the troops being there and freeing Iraqis from Saddam. This I did not read, hear or see in any U.S. mainstream media outlet.Slightly different picture, eh? So I checked Iraq The Model (now following Syrian bloggers and the Iraqi Parliament) and found a different poll by an Iraqi newspaper that showed only 13% of the Iraqis wanting immediate withdrawal. Long term, of course, they want us out and we want to leave, so at least two countries in the world share a common goal.
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FANTASTIC post, MoM! Thanks so much for telling us all about this. I can't say I'm surprised -- my hatred of the LA Times is well documented in the blogway. They tick me off constantly.
The worst part is that after reading Chrenkoff's post I went back and googled for the LA Times article, and on re-reading it I noticed some artful structuring. I think they may have known they were being misleading and were careful to do so in a way that would allow them to claim technical accuracy. That riled me up.
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