News Focus - Is the balance right?
I'm getting somewhat concerned with the memory hole that Iraq is becoming. First let me stress that I dont mean to in any way undermine what happened in London on the 7th. I ought not to; I almost got caught up in it. But I find that the balance of reporting in the press is, frankly, totally out of hand.
For example. Who knew that this happened in Iraq on Saturday?
Quote:
Many killed in Iraq suicide bomb
At least 58 people have been killed in a suicide bomb attack in the town of Musayyib, some 60 km (40 miles) south of Baghdad.
Police told the BBC the bomber blew himself up near a mosque. The blast caused a nearby fuel tanker to explode.
At least another 80 people are said to have been injured.
Again, who knew about this on the 13th of July:
Quote:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/mid...st/4678207.stm
At least 26 Iraqis, almost all of them children, have been killed by a suicide car bombing in south-eastern Baghdad.
A US soldier is also said to have died in the blast. Another three US soldiers are reported to have been injured.
A car drove up to a US army vehicle and blew up as troops gave sweets to the children, a witness said.
Now I agree that if you had been paying attention to the papers or the TV news you would be well aware of these stories, but surely the fact that this is a situation of our own making infers a little more than page 5 news coverage (or item 4 on the TV news at best).
Does anyone know how many innocent people died in Iraq last week? 170. . How many innocent people have died in Iraq since the invasion began? At least 22850. 22 thousand. That's more than 7 times the number of people that died on 9/11.
It seems that we are actually bored of hearing about it. That is the only conclusion I have come to. What are your thoughts?