Victory Ignored

I knew things must be going well in Iraq when the media stopped the daily barrage of body counts and stock footage of convoys being blown up. As I was watching the news the other day, I noticed something else interesting. They were reporting the sad news of another serviceman being killed in Iraq. The interesting part was how the story was framed. Do you suppose they put it in the context of 5 straight months of declining casualties among US troops AND Iraqi citizens? No, that would not be "objective" reporting. They reported the death of that honorable and heroic soldier as adding to the "deadliest year" of the Iraq War. It may be true that this has been the deadliest year of the war. I haven't checked the facts, but I'm willing to accept it at face value. However, if they were really concerned about objectivity, why did they chose to leave out the positive news altogether?

Victor Davis Hanson's RCP article, Good News Is No News, addresses this very issue. You can read more of VDH at VDH's Private Papers or his Pajamas Media blog, Works and Days.