Why is the press coverage of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan so sparse?

Question

Seems like we get a news bite about actions where one or more of our service members are killed, but we see no in depth coverage and we get no details of the activities going on. Is the military backing away from the embedded press concept? Are news agencies unwilling to send reporters anymore?

Answer 1

The news agencies are concerned primarily with maximizing their audiences, selling more papers, maximizing viewership and listenership.  There is no new news coming from Iraq, and the news outlets discern that Americans are tired of the same old news.  If something big happens, they will give a brief announcement of it, otherwise I think they see it as 'the same old thing', as 'old news'.

Also the news media are afraid to anger the Bush administration.  They depend on the administration for access to the news.  Reporters who report stories that are thought by the White House to be too critical of Bush will be denied access in the future.  So it comes down to not reporting bad news from Iraq, and instead just repeating what they are told by the Bush administration.

Answer 2

i happen to see just last week on oreilly, last year before the surge over 250 reporters were embedded, now that the surge has been successful, a little more than 50. most of the media is just like the tabloids,unless it sell, no need ot cover it. plus, things are going great in iraq, what is there to report other than schools being built and such.

Answer 3

The military, under the direction of Bush's Defense Department, does not want Americans to realize the cost of war - financial and otherwise.

They would not let the coffins of returning service members be photographed, as has been done in previous wars.

They have fed misinformation to the press and the public.

They have limited the press' access to information about the conduct of the war.

And, the press has lost interest to some extent, particularly with the current Presidential campaign and other news that gets more viewers and sells more papers than does discussion of the wars.

Bush/Cheney have hidden so much information about not only the war, but the war profiteering which they have allowed, encouraged, and even participated in.

Time for change, indeed.

ADDED: gl4jld - I appreciate your service to our country, and I too am a veteran. But you are fighting for the wrong government if you think the public doesn't have the right to know anything and everything that goes on in any war zone (except, of course, classified information). The President, the military, and you, the individual soldier, work for and are responsible to the American People.

As we learned from the Soviet Union, secret government is the most dangerous enemy to democracy, far worse than Al Queda or the Taliban.

Answer 4

Most of the press would rather let their imagination do the talking rather than tell the truth. The was a time that doing what they have been doing would have been labeled as treason! Now it is just labeled as being politically correct!

Answer 5

By now it is old news and as such very stale. When something new and exciting happens they will give it its very own 30-second sound bite, which is the attention span of most Americans, then move on to something else.

Answer 6

These conflicts have very few embedded reporters. The military doesnt want the media to influence public opinion like they did in Vietnam. The media has been given very little access. I personally think it to be a smart move.

Answer 7

You don't need in depth coverage. If you want in depth coverage then enlist. This is something that we don't need to go showing all these protesters and stuff. It's handled there so lets leave it there. Media informing you of lost troops is fine because it's the civilians right to know. As for more details you don't need to know that and if you want to know whats going on there so  bad then enlist.

Answer 8

They don't like to have much publicity. But be content that when you go to pump some gas, the foreign policy is doing just fine.

Answer 9

It's probably that reporter's aren't willing to die for a good story. What you and I see on the news about the Military is absolute crud and completely biased. I don't even bother watching the news about our men & women anymore it sicken's and enfuriate's me.