Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD)

DATE=10-30-03

TYPE=Dateline

NUMBER=7-37999

TITLE=U-S Media and Iraq

BYLINE=Jaroslaw Anders

TELEPHONE=619 0252

DATELINE=Washington

EDITOR=Carol Castiel

CONTENT=

DISK: DATELINE THEME [PLAYED IN STUDIO, FADED UNDER DATELINE HOST VOICE OR PROGRAMMING MATERIAL]

HOST: Recently several high-ranking members of the U-S administration have accused the media of distorting the picture of the U-S mission in Iraq by focusing on the negatives. Is American reporting on Iraq biased, or is the government trying to blame its setbacks on the press? On this edition of Dateline, Jaroslaw Anders reports on the controversy through the eyes of the journalists covering Iraq. From Washington here is Doug Johnson.

ANNC: Speaking recently about the news coverage of Iraq, President Bush remarked: "Sometimes it's hard to tell it when you listen to the filter. We're making good progress." The "filter" the President referred to is the news media that, in his opinion, select only the news that fits its own, gloomy picture of the situation in Iraq. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, and the chief U-S administrator in Iraq Ambassador L. Paul Bremer raised similar objections. They point out that it is enough to turn on the television or glance at the front page of any major newspaper to learn about the most recent American casualty, suicide attack, or act of sabotage in Iraq. They add that it takes more effort to find out about the good news: Iraqi schools being opened, public services beginning to operate, or local government taking root in many parts of the country. Is this proof of anti-government bias by the U-S media? Several journalists and editors discussed the topic at a recent forum at the Council on Foreign Relations. Washington Post national correspondent Barton Gellman admits that daily news reports from Iraq rarely mention things that go well.

TAPE: GELLMAN, CUT#1

"And so we're not going to see stories that say that a large majority of Iraqis have never shot an American. It's a fact that there are now two to three dozen attacks on American troops every day, that 203 of them have been killed since President Bush declared victory aboard the (U-S-S) "Abraham Lincoln," that close to two thousand have been wounded since that time, and security is a huge issue in the country."

ANNCR: Barton Gellman says that the facts on the ground do not support the upbeat claims made by the U-S administration. But, often two journalists interpret the same facts in a very different way. Robert Pollock, senior editorial page writer at The Wall Street Journal, who was in Iraq for three weeks in May, says he saw positive images of American troops socializing with Iraqi population.

TAPE: POLLOCK, CUT#2

"Everybody was waving at you. I mean, this was weeks after the fall of Baghdad. People were waving at you. You were offered more tea than you could possibly drink. I don't think many Americans know that that's what life is like for most of our soldiers in Iraq. They think that they are all nervous and under constant attack. And that's just not the case."

ANNCR: But Barton Gellman who was in Iraq at the same time, recalls a completely different mood among U-S soldiers patrolling Iraqi streets.

TAPE: GELLMAN, CUT#3

"The weapons were locked and loaded with only safeties on, but there were rounds in chamber. They had to have full protective gear. There had to be no fewer than two people in each vehicle, and so on. The idea that most of our soldier then, or especially now, are drinking tea with friendly Iraqis is not characteristic."

ANNCR: President Bush's criticism of the news media has met with counter-criticism that says the government has failed to communicate its side of the story fully and effectively. But, Harold Meyerson, editor-at-large of the monthly magazine, The American Prospect, points out that, in the past, practically all US administrations have voiced objections about media bias when things in the field did not go according to the government's plans.

TAPE: MEYERSON, CUT#4

"This is the complaint of just about any American president in wartime or a post-war occupation from time immemorial. Clearly, just by virtue of reporting all the stuff that goes on there that threatens the administration's claim of "mission accomplished." Mission is not accomplished. Mission is constructing a civil society, which is going to take a very long time."

ANNCR: Harold Meyerson admits that while many things in Iraq may be going well, Americans have understandable concerns about the drawbacks of that mission, and it is the media's job to address those worries. But, Robert Pollock of The Wall Street Journal believes many American journalists think their mission is to look for facts that contradict the government's message and tend to criticize whoever is in power.

TAPE: POLLOCK, CUT#5

"I think it is probably a post-Watergate syndrome when journalists have started to conceive their role as speaking truth to power, and ferreting out, you know, doing investigations, and "getting" people. And they don't think it's dignified to just go out there and, sort of, report what's going on."

ANNCR: But, The Washington Post's Barton Gellman disagrees. He says seeking information someone wants to conceal from public knowledge is one of the primary responsibilities of a free press.

TAPE: GELLMAN, CUT#6

"It is exactly what we are supposed to do. To go out and say what's going on, what we can see. We don't conceive our role as opposing either the policies of the government, or the party, or the government in power. I think our principal role, as we conceive it at "The Washington Post" is to hold accountable people who have power, for their use of that power. To tell things about what they are doing that they don't want to say. And to shine a light on aspects of the story that no one is talking about."

ANNCR: Journalism students often hear that a reporter must not let his own opinions interfere with the way he presents the facts. But some analysts doubt that it is possible to completely separate fact from opinion. Every reporter, they say, must decide which facts are meaningful and important-a task which requires personal judgement. That is why Mr. Pollock believes that absolute journalistic objectivity is a myth.

TAPE: POLLOCK, CUT#7

"I don't think there is any clear-cut, easy distinction between pure fact reporting and editorializing, for that matter. You know, judgments go into whatever you do. When you do a news story you have to figure out which facts are relevant, what order to put them in, and so forth."

ANNCR: Mr. Gellman agrees, but offers a further distinction.

TAPE: GELLMAN, CUT#8

"It's inevitable that news reporting is subjective. "The Washington Post" does not claim objectivity even as its goal in reporting. I think the editors came to the conclusion that it is not humanly possible using human apparatus of judgment to be objective. The goals are fairness and accuracy. That what we say that's verifiable be strictly true and that it be fully fair to all sides of the argument, or all sides in the issue at hand."

ANNCR: Are the American news media equally fair to the U-S government and to its critics? Most journalists claim they do their best to present all aspects of the story. But, they also point out that their mission is to report unpleasant facts and to treat official statements with skepticism. Joshua Hammer, Jerusalem correspondent for Newsweek, wrote recently "As long as American soldiers and Iraqis keep dying, we'll put the story on page one." This Dateline was written by Jaroslaw Anders. From Washington I'm Doug Johnson.