Local News Coverage of Iraq

I'm switching between C-Span and local broadcasting. The former just reran Edwards' not-quite-a-victory-and-my-fundraising-sources-tell-me-we're-out-of-cash speech. They're about to rerun Kerry's "I'm-the-inevitable-nominee" speech, but first they're going with the ghost of Ted Kennedy--oh, sorry, it's actually Kennedy himself. Damn, he looks old, although I said that back in 1998.

The local news has been running a week long series on Iraq, reported by someone who must've gone to Baghdad when Blanco did. The report focuses on a medical support team made up of Louisiana residents. They're firmly within the boundries of the Baghdad Airport, an enclave as secured as the Green Zone, but hear mortars nightly--some pretty close by. Interesting: they're very positive about the experience, but even more eager to return home.

Remember, though, these folks are at the airport. Salam Pax, who hopefully is ok (he reported he'd be in Karbala today), isn't . Neither is Riverbend.

To be fair, Ken has some links to Iraqi bloggers also outside the Green Zone and/or airport area who have different views. Feel free to read them too if you want.

I expect the local news segments to be the undertone of the Bush effort to shape public opinion just long enough to--well, I was gonna say make-the-lipstick-on-the-pig-that-is-Iraq look good enough--but I don't want to offend, because the reference wasn't meant as a religious one. So, I'll use "Potemkin Village that is Iraq." As long as they can sow the seeds of doubt about Iraq--maybe it really isn't THAT bad--Bush can further the lie with a confused nod-smirk and a gentle reminder of the evils of Saddam.

Local news, the ten o'clock realm of someone with really cheap cable tv (like me) or NO cable tv (like me for a few years), is a low-attention medium. as I'm sure all five of y'all reading this know. Accuracy is a crapshoot, Bush-style patriotism is a given, and the overwhelming theme is a festival--hell, almost a RELIGIOUS festival--celebrating the middle-class aesthetic. Red State--of-mind.

I'm guessing that the various local news outlets in the other States' whose governors toured Iraq a few weeks ago did the same thing. Hmmn. I don't question the intentions of the Statewide elected officials, but I have a deep distrust of local news. Local news makes Fox News look like a class act...

Have some thoughts as well about the Kerry win, but I'll put it in a separate post--decided to stay in and sit through Nightline. Another TV hitching post for the good-cable challenged...