Tuesday, March 14, 2006
The indespensable Iraqi stringer
Ralph Peters dissects press disinformation coming out of Iraq, and skewers the media, closing with this:
The dangerous nature of journalism in Iraq has created a new phenomenon, the all-powerful local stringer. Unwilling to stray too far from secure facilities and their bodyguards, reporters rely heavily on Iraqi assistance in gathering news. And Iraqi stringers, some of whom have their own political agendas, long ago figured out that Americans prefer bad news to good news. The Iraqi leg-men earn blood money for unbalanced, often-hysterical claims, while the Journalism 101 rule of seeking confirmation from a second source has been discarded in the pathetic race for headlines.
To enhance their own indispensability, Iraqi stringers exaggerate the danger to Western journalists (which is real enough, but need not paralyze a determined reporter). Dependence on the unverified reports of local hires has become the dirty secret of semi-celebrity journalism in Iraq as Western journalists succumb to a version of Stockholm Syndrome in which they convince themselves that their Iraqi sources and stringers are exceptions to every failing and foible in the Middle East. The mindset resembles the old colonialist conviction that, while other "boys" might lie and steal, our house-boy's a faithful servant.
The result is that we're being told what Iraqi stringers know they can sell and what distant editors crave, not what's actually happening.
While there are and have been any number of courageous, ethical journalists reporting from Iraq, others know little more of the reality of the streets than you do. They report what they are told by others, not what they have seen themselves. The result is a distorted, unfair and disheartening picture of a country struggling to rise above its miserable history.
Comments:
Of course there's two sides to the story. I expect the truth is somewhere in between:
http://www.back-to-iraq.com/archives/2006/03/the_big_lie.php
http://www.back-to-iraq.com/archives/2006/03/the_big_lie.php
# posted by 
: 9:18 AM
: 9:18 AM
Jason,
Prior to regime change every member of the media used Iraqi assistants, who were, to a man, Mukhabarat. Do you think that the media had a purge and went out and hired new drivers, clerks, fixers and interpreters? Not bloody likely. Eason Jordan admitted the media were complicit in Saddam's crimes and violated international sanctions by giving gifts to MOI goons to curry favor.
Scott
Post a Comment
Prior to regime change every member of the media used Iraqi assistants, who were, to a man, Mukhabarat. Do you think that the media had a purge and went out and hired new drivers, clerks, fixers and interpreters? Not bloody likely. Eason Jordan admitted the media were complicit in Saddam's crimes and violated international sanctions by giving gifts to MOI goons to curry favor.
Scott
# posted by : 3:15 PM
: 3:15 PM
