At least 15 Iraqi civilians were killed in a bombing in Baghdad on Wednesday, police said, and the U.S. military announced the deaths of eight American soldiers.
The civilians died when a roadside bomb exploded next to a minibus crowded with commuters in Baladiyat, a Shiite neighborhood of eastern Baghdad, police said.
The above is the opening of Megan Greenwell's "At Least 15 Die in Blast In Shiite Area of Baghdad, Separately, 8 U.S. Soldiers Are Reported Killed" (Washington Post) and Martha notes it. How does the New York Times play it? As if they were NBC's Today. Sabrina Tavernise's "After Talks With Bush, Maliki Visits Top Shiite Cleric to Discuss Plans" wastes the first six paragraphs on al-Maliki 'talking'. Exactly how many times is that going to be 'news'? It would be really interesting to go back through the last year plus and see how many times the Times has led with al-Maliki having 'talks' -- talks that never get anywhere, never lead to anything, but the Times always leads with them.
Finally, in paragraph seven, Tavernise rouses her lazy ass enough to note some deaths. Not all, mind you. She goes with four. The four who died yesterday. Now the four deaths announced yesterday morning that took place the day prior are not reported by the paper. So readers of the piece of crap article this morning are left with the impression that there have been four deaths of US service members. Apparently, Tavernise is a little finicky these days about which US military press releases she includes in her articles.
If all you had as a news source was that paper, you're going through the day thinking four deaths of US service members while most others will know there were eight. But you will know that al-Maliki had talks. On your own, you might be able to remember all the other 'talks' he's had and how they amounted to nothing. Consider Tavernise's coverage to be "al-Maliki's Dream House."
Martin notes Leila Fadel's "Open Your Eyes" (Baghdad Observer, McClatchy Newspapers) and let's dedicate it here to Tavernise, "Open Your Eyes:"
Sometimes it is hard to get out of bed in the morning here. I have friends in the States who tell me they don't read the news.
"It just makes me so depressed," they say. It is a luxury of sorts to ignore Iraq, Somalia, Afghanistan, Lebanon, Sudan.
To skip over the news channels and discontinue the papers and flip through a couple hundred cable shows, watch the latest on Britney Spears and Paris Hilton and laugh at their antics; it's a luxury of sorts.
A luxury I don't have and I know I don't want. But sometimes near the end of my rotations in Iraq, typically six weeks of early mornings of reporting and late nights of writing (this time I stay 12 weeks before my break) I dread opening my eyes. I am lucky enough to get quick breaks. Most Iraqis can't get tired and just take a quick break from the war for a massage, an evening out and a late night stroll. Luxuries replaced by curfews and fear.
But I have to wake up and I can't turn off the television, ignore the papers, stop reporting or stop writing. The bad news is at the doorstep: gunfire I told myself was construction last week, a bleeding man on the stairs, a dead colleague, another who can never leave the hotel, another who went to a wedding that looked more like a funeral, another afraid she will end up like her dead colleague, men getting death threats and every day the list of those killed on the violence report.
The e-mail address for this site is common_ills@yahoo.com.
the washington post
megan greenwell
the new york times
mcclatchy newspapers
leila fadel
