Alexandria, VA—The following is a statement issued by Media Research Center President Brent Bozell concerning USA Today’s front-page story about the tally of wounded US troops decreasing in the Iraq War in 2005. Bozell notes that the majority of the national media ignored this positive development:
“USA Today should be commended for their balanced coverage of the Iraq war by reporting the significant decline of overall casualties in yesterday’s story ‘U.S. tally of wounded drops 26%.’ This good news certainly deserves the same attention that negative war-related headlines continually receive. USA Today recognized the importance of the story and ran it on its front page. But the rest of the media continue to demonstrate their pessimistic bias about the war by failing to cover this important development.”
“Over and over again, the national media find the time and space to cover negative news on the war. They must begin highlighting contrasting news as well – especially if the highest-circulated newspaper in the nation deems it front-page worthy. But the New York Times, the Washington Post, ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, and Fox News Channel did not mention this encouraging news.
“Because of the story’s prominence in USA Today, no one has an excuse for disregarding this story. Claiming ignorance of this news is akin to admitting job incompetence,” Bozell concluded.
For a review of the media’s reporting record on the Iraq War, please see MRC’s Special Report "TV’s Bad News Brigade: ABC, CBS and NBC’s Defeatist Coverage of the War in Iraq"