Posted By Jonathan Mark
Route 17: Iraq Disappearing
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You can decide if this item is indicative of how politically unbalanced the national network newscasts are, or if this is item is simply indicative of how “local” the national newscasts have become. (When I say “local” I mean the fact that late-night local TV news is infatuated with fire and murder stories, and bringing cameras to dramatic and chaotic scenes, rather than the more thoughtful stories you might hear on NPR that almost never deal with crime but with ideas and trends in American life).
In the months prior to mid-September, when Iraq was at its most lawless and deadly – and when most Americans were becoming convinced of the war’s futility – coverage of Iraq was averaging 30 minutes a week on the national evening news, according to the Tyndall Report which clocks the minutes allocated to stories on the ABC, CBS and NBC newscasts.
But ever since Gen. David Petraeus testified to Congress (Sept. 10) that the United States was doing better in Iraq and the “surge” was working, Iraq coverage on the network evening newscasts has plummeted to four minutes a week.