Chrenkoff/WSJ: Post-Totalitarian Stress Disorder ("Good news" from Iraq)

[Barrett808]

Post-Totalitarian Stress Disorder
A roundup of the past two weeks' good news from Iraq.
BY ARTHUR CHRENKOFF
Monday, September 27, 2004 12:01 a.m. EDT

The past two weeks continued to be tumultuous in Iraq. More hostages taken, more hostages beheaded, more suicide bombings, more sabotage, more fighting, all unfolding against the background of an increasingly bitter U.S. presidential election campaign and a chorus of intelligence experts, politicians and pundits expressing grave doubts about the future of the country.

And then there was the media coverage. In the midst of all the carnage and chaos overflowing the front pages of our newspapers and the TV screens, Newsweek chose to run an overview of the current situation in Iraq, titled "It's Worse Than You Think." Having for quite some time closely followed the mainstream media's reporting from Iraq, it struck me that this is hardly possible.

In the same week that Newsweek had its panic attack, the editorial board of a less worldly Kansas City Star met up with a group of five Iraqi journalists visiting the United States on a tour organized by the State Department. During the discussion with his Iraqi colleagues, E. Thomas McClanahan of the Star asked them what they thought about the media coverage of Iraq:

The response was amusing in a way. Perhaps out of tact, our visitors (they asked that we not use their names) said they hadn't seen much U.S. coverage. Most couldn't speak English. But coverage by the Arab media, they said through translators, presented a distorted picture.
One member of the group, the only woman, said the pessimistic tone of Arab coverage was making things worse by encouraging terrorists and demoralizing those who supported democracy. Another journalist, a man in a dark suit, said the insurgents "don't represent the Iraqi people."

Arab reporters, said a third, "try to give the impression that it's hopeless. If you watch the satellite channels from Arab countries you would imagine there's no rebuilding going on."

(more delusional optimism)

http://www.opinionjournal.com/extra/?id=110005676

Chrenkoff is of the media-only-reports-bad-news stripe, and the WSJ gives him space to counter the "liberal bias."