Example of Media Bias:

The excerpt below is an example of media bias by OMISSION and SPIN.  It is from an article posted by LTC Tim Ryan on WorldTribune.com on January 18. (For definitions of OMISSION and SPIN, look under “Types of Media Bias” in the right column.)

LTC Tim Ryan is Commander, Task Force 2-12 Cavalry, First Cavalry Division in Iraq. He led troops into battle in Fallujah late last year and is now involved in security operations for the upcoming elections. He wrote the following during “down time” after the Fallujah operation:

All right, I’ve had enough. I am tired of reading distorted and grossly exaggerated stories from major news organizations about the “failures” in the war in Iraq. … The inaccurate picture they paint has distorted the world view of the daily realities in Iraq…

The operation in Fallujah is only one of the recent examples of incomplete coverage of the events in Iraq. The battle in Najaf last August provides another. Television and newspapers spilled a continuous stream of images and stories about the destruction done to the sacred city, and of all the human suffering allegedly brought about by the hands of the big, bad Americans. These stories and the lack of anything to counter them gave more fuel to the fire of anti-Americanism that burns in this part of the world. Those on the outside saw the Coalition portrayed as invaders or oppressors, killing hapless Iraqis who, one was given to believe, simply were trying to defend their homes and their Muslim way of life.

Such perceptions couldn’t be farther from the truth. What noticeably was missing were accounts of the atrocities committed by the Mehdi Militia — Muqtada Al Sadr’s band of henchmen. While the media was busy bashing the Coalition, Muqtada’s boys were kidnapping policemen, city council members and anyone else accused of supporting the Coalition or the new government, trying them in a kangaroo court based on Islamic Shari’a law, then brutally torturing and executing them for their “crimes.” What the media didn’t show or write about were the two hundred-plus headless bodies found in the main mosque there, or the body that was put into a bread oven and baked. Nor did they show the world the hundreds of thousands of mortar, artillery and small arms rounds found within the “sacred” walls of the mosque. Also missing from the coverage was the huge cache of weapons found in Muqtada’s “political” headquarters nearby. No, none of this made it to the screen or to print. All anyone showed were the few chipped tiles on the dome of the mosque and discussion centered on how we, the Coalition, had somehow done wrong. Score another one for the enemy’s propaganda machine. (To read LTC Ryan’s whole article, click here.)