A U.S. Army soldier scans for insurgents hiding in the hills surrounding the tiny village of Barge Matal during Operation Mountain Fire in Nuristan province, Afghanistan, July 12, 2009. Photo by U.S. Army Sgt. Matthew C. MoellerFrom FOX News:
Those who are the smartest people in the press room too often feel that skepticism of the military somehow gives journalist, editors and op-ed writers more credibility and clout.
The media may just be the deadliest foe in Afghanistan, I know they were almost fatal in Iraq.
As a war correspondent, I have covered somewhere between 50 to 75 military units from nations throughout the world. Army pilots, Air Force medics or Marine infantrymen, the variety of teams working in a war zone runs the gamut, but no matter how many different American troops I speak to, I'm asked the same question from the men and women serving overseas.
"Why is the media so biased against the military?"
Read more ....
My Comment: Matt Sanchez hits all the right buttons in this post. The main reason why War News Updates was started was because of our disgust with what we were reading/seeing in the U.S. main stream media, and what other media organizations and military blogs were saying on these same conflicts.
The success of the Anbar awakening contrasted with the constant news reporting from Democratic leaders like Senator Reid and House Speaker Pelosi that we had lost the war in Iraq. False accusations from Congressman Murtha on U.S. marines slaughtering innocents in Haditha. Senator Dick Durbin accusing interrogators of behaving like Nazis/PolPot executioners .... my list of this type of reporting and coverage can go on and on.
The U.S. media .... by its nature .... has become a very biased and liberal institution. Their reporting is done within this framework, and what is worse it is now becoming a sounding board for this administration. A deadly scenario in today's world when we need our soldiers and intelligence agencies focused on the matter at hand.
While this present situation does a disservice to those who are dependent on the main stream media for their information ..... we are fortunate that this is not the only source of information that we can now get. Alternative media, talk radio, web sites and blogs, easy access to foreign media .... this has revolutionized war reporting and coverage. A trend that will only increase with time and new technology developments.
this "new" reporting and coverage was evident last month. Twitter and YouTube led the news for the revolution in Iran .... not CNN and its reporter Christiane Amanpour.
And (in my books) this is a good thing.