Playing to your audience
Yessirree, them wingnuts be lovin’ their Michael Yon. Yon’s latest missive is a at the “MSM” for misreporting all the wonderful success we’re having in Iraq and creating a misimpression that Iraq is, you know, a major clusterfuck:
But it wasn?t until I spent that week back in the States that I realized how bad things have gotten. I believe we are witnessing a conspiracy of coincidences conflating to exert an incomprehensibly destructive force on the free press system that we largely take for granted. The fact that the week in question also happened to be when General Petraeus and Ambassador Crocker were delivering their reports to Congress makes me wonder if things are actually worse than I?ve assessed, and I returned to Iraq sadly convinced that General Petraeus now has to deal from a deck clearly stacked against him in both America and Iraq.
The free press is being destroyed because the free press should be sharing Yon’s “Iraq is a success” narrative and backing General Petraeus’s views (shared by the Bush administration) that we’ve taken a 180 degree turn in Iraq from bad to good, even though most conservative narratives never conceded that it was bad in the first place.
Further problems arise because the press’s “misreporting” has (in his view) created an unfavorable impression of America’s good deeds in Iraq:
As I travel around the world, I see that even many of our close allies have a false impression of American soldiers as brutally oppressive towards people. Even our great friends in Singapore and the United Kingdom, and the pro-American people on the island of Bali, Indonesia, think we are savaging people. This loss of moral leadership will be costly to Americans on many fronts for many generations to come.
This loss of moral leadership, naturally, stems not from the false accusations which led to this war, not from incidents like the recent Blackwater shooting spree, not from the Abu Ghraib scandal, not from policies legitimizing torture, not from our boorish and immature Chief Executive, and not from the inevitable civilian casualties which result from the use of bombs and rockets in an urban guerilla warfare. Naturally, it is the press’s bad coverage of these events, and the failure to cover the good stuff, which is responsible for America’s image.
Wingnuttia up like this.
Naturally, the only place to turn for real, unadulterated-by-conspiracy-of-conincidences news is places like Yon’s site, which, coincidentally is expanding and needs money:
The only antidote for this toxic press is a steady dose of detailed stories about the amazing men and women who serve in the United States military.
Amazing men and women, it turns out, whose accounts are very favorable towards the war, and are published on Yon’s site. But it turns out freedom isn’t free.
As with the syndication project, there will be costs. The total reworking of the website including accrued bills, and the initial translation from past and up to about six months in the future, is roughly $100,000. One thousand people supporting the effort with $125 contributions would make it all happen.
In Right Blogostan, Yon holds a special place, dearer to God even than General Petraeus. His narrative is scripture, unquestioned and unimpeachable. At least as long as the message is one the right wants to hear.
I don’t doubt Yon’s sincerity, but I have serious doubts about his infallibility. Mostly because the whole “media is getting it wrong” and “Good News From Iraq” memes have been so badly overplayed, for years and years and years. Yon may be an optimist, looking for things to improve, or an ideologist who believes that framing positively the narrative forms the reality.
It was a compliant press which helped pave the way for this invasion. It was the failure of the press to question assumptions voiced by the administration that this war would be cheap, quick, and easy. If the press is, as Yon claims, stuck focusing on the past failures in Iraq, this is so because it was duped, over and over, broadcasting administration memes of “dead enders” and Iraqis “standing up” during campaign cycles. If the press, and the American people, aren’t as trusting and positive as Yon would like, it is because both have been lied to repeatedly, and because the latest, greatest story of success in Iraq seems over-scripted, and, despite all the effort put into differentiating this from all the previous claims of success through new faces, all too familiar.
Like , I would like to believe Yon’s account, but too much has transpired, and too many dissonant voices conflict with his narrative. 2.2 million Iraqis aren’t living abroad because of what ABC, the Post, or the New York Times reports. And hundreds of thousands, perhaps millions, more didn’t flee their homes and become internally displaced because Paul Krugman made a harsh assessment on Iraq.
Do you have to delete abusive comments very often?
No.
May I infer from your post that no matter what the reality of Iraq is, it will always be a failure for the U.S. in your mind? Is it beyond recovery no matter what the ultimate outcome? There are plenty of facts that represent a significant change on the ground in Iraq since June. There are also many anecdotal reports, like Michael Yon’s, that correspond with the change represented by the facts. Maybe you don’t see these changes as success. Maybe success for you in Iraq is defined by withdrawl of our military while Iraq is a disaster. At any rate, I know that I don’t get reports like Michael Yon’s or Michael Totten’s from the MSM. I think the public both in the U.S. and around the world is worse off for it. If the only reportage that is fit to print is of the Bush Sucks narrative, then we are all in trouble.
May I infer from your post that no matter what the reality of Iraq is, it will always be a failure for the U.S. in your mind?
No, you may not.
I know that I don?t get reports like Michael Yon?s or Michael Totten?s from the MSM.
Well, you used to, for years. But in the past, they’ve turned out to be mostly bullshit.
Maybe success for you in Iraq is defined by withdrawl of our military while Iraq is a disaster
Maybe success for you is defined by a threesome with Kathy Bates and Roseanne Barr, but that would be as speculative and unfounded as your comment is.
If the only reportage that is fit to print is of the Bush Sucks narrative, then we are all in trouble.
You are an ideologist. The problem isn’t reporting Bush’s fuck ups, it’s the fuck ups themselves. And yes, we are all in trouble.
It is nice to see a civilized response.
I think success in Iraq is leaving an Iraq that can defend itself and maintain civil order with a functioning government.
What is your idea of success in Iraq?
Why do you think I’m an ideologist?
I think success in Iraq is leaving an Iraq that can defend itself and maintain civil order with a functioning government.
That is a pretty limited vision of success. It would include, for example, Saddam’s government which maintained civil order (albeit thru brutality and repression) and delivered basic governmental services.
What if the Iraqi government becomes closely allied with Iran, as seems very possible? Is that a “success?”
Why do you think I?m an ideologist?
Because you seem to think that the narrative somehow defines reality. That somehow the reporting on Bush sucks is what causes trouble, not the massive ineptitude and greivous mistakes of the man himself.
If i may interject John, to begin with the beginning, how come the US says it wants nothing but freedom and democracy for everybody,
but when it is clear the iraqi people want the troops out, the US still won’t leave.
Regardless of what will make the terrorists happy, if you go against the will of a nation, you are bound to fail.
The US is not winning hearts and minds. It is not preventing sectarian violence. It is not helping with the political reconciliation.
So why are the troops staying ?
What you’re describing as success is all fine, but it’s not happening anytime soon, with or without the US troops.
I’m confused. Why does it have to be “a major clusterfuck” or “Iraq is a success”? Why can’t it be somewhere in between?
Yes, the media should cover the mistakes that have been made. That’s one of the reasons they’re there. However, they’re ALSO there to report the good stuff. And they haven’t been doing that with nearly the same degree of zealousness to which they have pursued the bad, because bad sells. And you have to admit, that doesn’t help. Well, no, you don’t HAVE to admit anything. But I would argue that it has greatly exacerbated the problem of American image, while keeping American citizens from hearing the whole story of Iraq.
Also, you know, even the mainstream media has had to admit that things have been getting better lately, what with the Anbar and Shi’a Awakenings and all.
Michael does a good job of reporting the minutiae of the troops’ life in the field. His view as a traveling embed is limited as far as the “big picture” goes, but there is still value in getting a troops-eye view of the conflict.
Let me add:
I think success in Iraq is leaving an Iraq that can defend itself and maintain civil order with a functioning government based on their current constitution. Of course, this allows for amendments to their constitution.
If Iraq becomes a close ally with Iran, then we will have to deal with it.
As far as being an ideoligist, as you are defining it, I am not. I do not think that a narrative defines reality.
I do, however, believe that it is not a good thing if the MSM is only reporting news that fits a Bush Sucks narrative. It does not provide a very comprehensive picture of reality. The Bush administration has made “greivous mistakes” and has shown “massive ineptitude” in some areas. The press seems to do a good job of reporting those issues. The administration has also shown competence in other areas. The current Iraq policy seems to be achieving some positive changes. I don’t see much reporting on these changes. I’m not sure what about Michael Yon’s or Michael Totten’s reporting is “bullshit.” I do think we should see more of their style of reporting, if it is factual, in the MSM. I have no reason to believe their reporting is not factual.
Just out of curiosity, how do you define success in Iraq?
“Just out of curiosity, how do you define success in Iraq?”
Getting the hell out of that complete and utter mess without another young man or woman losing their life over and oil supply.
Success in Iraq will not be defined.
Mr.Bush led us into this war/occupation based
on trumped up intel.(supported by the MSM)
This administration has abused the American people’s trust and has created a fearful society.
This administration has twisted support of troops,belief in country and faith/belief of god to forward it’s political goals.
You can define success all you want and however you want, it will not change the fact that this administration has spent all of it’s “Capital” on an illegal war of aggression.
Blessed are the peace makers….
“How do you define success in Iraq?”
How do you define success when you are in a horrible car accident and you may lose your legs but you will definitely be paralzed anyway and saving your legs sends your wife and kids into bankruptcy?
Should you continue to wage an endless occupation of choice that will eventually bankrupt our nation and penalize to poverty our future generation of Americans?
Have you ever heard the phrase ‘throw good money after bad’? How about ‘when you find yourself in a hole, stop digging’?
Michael does a good job of reporting the minutiae of the troops? life in the field. His view as a traveling embed is limited as far as the ?big picture? goes, but there is still value in getting a troops-eye view of the conflict.
I agree. Yon gives a good account of that part of the war. I think the mistake is confusing travelling around as an embed with the overall situation in Iraq for normal Iraqis who are in the middle of all the ethnic and sectarian strife.
Yon’s account of Basra, for example, is drawn from his travels with British troops who have withdrawn from the core of the city and handed security over to Iraqi security units heavily populated by Shiite militias. From his perspective, things are going great: attacks on British troops are down, casualties are down. But using those accounts to knock down media accounts of violence in central Basra — which the British has abandoned — is somewhat myopic.
Just out of curiosity, how do you define success in Iraq?
I define success as minimizing the grievous damage done to our military, our troops’ lives, our treasury, the stability of the entire region, and our image around the world caused by 3+ years of woeful incompetence.
If we can attain a stable, single state Iraq and withdraw our troops, that would be a kind of “success” at this point, but hardly worth the costs already incurred to date. An Iraqi confederation seems more likely, and also problematic, with Kurdish irredenta, Shiites leaning toward Iran, and disenfranchised sunnis in the west.
Missing from the list of possible outcomes at the end of the day is the Chalabi-fed fable of a pluralistic, non-sectarian, pro-Western Iraqi democracy.
Bush does suck for starters. Look at the comments here. We are trying to define success in this war. Why? Because no one has any idea what success will look like or how to define it. Our president has failed to lead us toward whatever vision he has of a re ordered middle east. Because he has no idea what to do next. Any success Yon is describing is a finger in the dike. Sure we can kick around local militias and square away neighborhoods with enough troops but that has no last impact.
Until the Iraqi’s own this fight we are wasting American lives and just remember Bush does suck for starting a war he has no idea how to end.
and just remember that whatever government comes out of this will put sharia law first.
I think it’s so cute how Michael Yon pontificates on the status of a free press, when the free press hasn’t existed since the Fairness Doctrine was raped by Ronald Reagan!
We took a functioning democracy, Iraq, and installed a dictator, Saddam Hussein. And now we want to try to re-impose democracy on a people who aren’t going to trust us for the simple reason that we caused the problem in the first place, then created an even bigger problem when we (finally) decided we had caused a big problem in the first place.
Democracy cannot be imposed. There is no possible definition of “success” in this invasion that is defensible, no matter how much Yon wants to spin.
You can spin opinion. Yon cannot spin facts.
“I do, however, believe that it is not a good thing if the MSM is only reporting news that fits a Bush Sucks narrative. It does not provide a very comprehensive picture of reality.”
The MSM sells news, it makes money upon it, it wonders what news will provide the most ratings. Do not ever expect it to provide a comprehensive picture of reality.
Also John, things are going super bad in Iraq. To talk about good reporting is like talking about the weather when there’s your whole family dying and suffering.
Yesterday one of our apache helicopters spotted a group of several insurgents planting a roadside bomb. As the helicopter approached, the men ran into a building. The helicopter launched a few missiles and destroyed the building, killing 11 civilians in the process.
Good news from Iraq! Just keeps getting better all the time.
The MSM isn’t reporting “all the good news” because there isn’t any. And yes, Bush doth suck muchly. This entire fiasco is due to his spineless cowardice, his deference to the vice president, and his corrupt cronies. Everything about Bush sucks. So if the media reports on something about Bush, they have suckitude to report.
[…] Martini Revolution, Alex tells us what the Bush administration wants us to hear: “[We]?ve taken a 180 degree […]
I feel ignored…My comment of 10:38 on the 22nd hasn’t gotten any response yet.
The Raven - and yet, when casualties drop, the best thing the media can do is obsess about how “the numbers are tricky”, or report on how cemetery workers are having trouble (and though I initially thought that one might be satire, there’s no indication of it in the article):
It’s not like there’s no good news from Iraq, ever, but that’s the impression we get from the media.
Also, when you make reference to his corrupt cronies, do you mean all the ones that got fired and replaced over the past couple of years? Because if that’s the case, the war would be looking a lot better to you now, but plainly it’s not. Could you explain, please?
Alex:
Your article would be great if Yon focused obsessively on the media. But this is one article among many on his site, and few of those articles discuss the media significantly. If he decides to focus an article on the media, there’s naturally going to be a reader impression that the media plays a larger role than is the case - IF you only read that article. Taking it in context would show you that Yon does not, in fact, blame everything on the media, and would allow you to reach the substance of the claim - that the mainstream media has distorted the picture of Iraq here at home with their negativity.
Note, I’m not saying that Iraq isn’t a mess. But the media sees it as purely black, when in fact it’s a mess colorwise as well - stripes of black and white with shades of gray interspersed. Of course there’s a large chance that we won’t be able to recover from our mistakes and we’ll lose this war. But there’s also a decent chance that we can climb out of that hole and reach victory, and the media fails in reporting the events that would lead to this way of thinking. THAT’S the conclusion I draw from Mr Yon’s report.
Jeez, Math_Mage, you sound like Fred Thompson in front of an audience, whining for attention…
It?s not like there?s no good news from Iraq, ever, but that?s the impression we get from the media.
In a word, bullshit. That’s your impression, but spin as hard as you want, you cannot spin fact.
If anything, I believe the MSM have bent over backwards to placate the Know-Nothing Right Wing of this country, with their autonomical knee-jerk flag waving form of patriotism by digging harder, MUCH harder, for good news to justify their initial reluctance to report on the news surrounding Saddam’s WMD program and the ridiculous, almost laughable, spinning justifications that Bush and his mass of christofascist killer cronies sprung upon us to corrall us into war.
But you go put your blinders on, son, and you let us know how tunnel vision gets you through life the next time you get blindsided, mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmK?