Sunday, April 08, 2012

Editorial: The stenography pool is full

Did you hear that only 112 people died in Iraq in the month of March?

If so, you follow some crappy media.

AP, Foreign Policy, AFP, Think Progress and oh-so-many others whore houses posing as news outlets repeated the 112 number.

Where did it come from?

The Iraqi government.

Quick question: Is the Iraqi government a disinterested party when it comes to the rate of violence in the country?


Answer: No, not at all.

Nouri al-Maliki, prime minister and thug of the occupation, is attempting to reassure Big Business that Iraq is safe. He's attempting to convince Iraqis that the violence has ended. Nouri's a liar.

What kind of an independent press files an article with claims by the government without even attempting to check those claims?

Iraq Body Count was made famous by the press and, when Bully Boy Bush was in office, they couldn't stop citing it. In fact, back then, even the White House used IBC's numbers.

Since the press refuses to keep their own count, shouldn't they at least be expected to check the Iraq Body Count number and see if it matches up with what the Iraqi government is claiming?

That, of course, would be reporting and not stenography -- which must be why it never occurred to so many claiming to be news outlets.

ibc

If they'd bothered to check, they would have seen that while the Iraqi government was insisting only 112 people died, IBC placed the count at 295.

Given the choice between an independent body that themselves built up or the government, why are they running with government numbers? Why are they not, at the very least, contrasting the so-called official figure with the number Iraq Body Count tabulates?

Oh, yeah, that would require actual work.