"Good News" that never makes the "News"
Discussion
Good news is boring, we all want to know the world is about to end, keep the good news for the small human interest at the end of the news, just to stop everyone from topping themselves due to hopelessness (wouldnt want to lose their ratingshare 
)
Sad but true, plenty of good stuff going on in Iraq and Afghanistan but you hear crap all about it, because its fashionable to hate the war and you can't be seen supporting it in anyway at all.
) Sad but true, plenty of good stuff going on in Iraq and Afghanistan but you hear crap all about it, because its fashionable to hate the war and you can't be seen supporting it in anyway at all.
There IS a lot of good stuff happening in Iraq.
I met a couple of officers from one of our armoured regiments in Basra (..... on hols in S. Africa ). They have done a lot of work to help with improving schools / roads / infrastructure etc. etc. which the locals welcome ...... but you never see it on the news in the UK - it wouldn't be attention-grabbing enough.
I met a couple of officers from one of our armoured regiments in Basra (..... on hols in S. Africa ). They have done a lot of work to help with improving schools / roads / infrastructure etc. etc. which the locals welcome ...... but you never see it on the news in the UK - it wouldn't be attention-grabbing enough.
Good post, Jimbeaux.
Even a positive glimmer leaked into the mainstream media: Sunnis have agreed to vote on the Iraqi constitution (which only Shiites and Kurds had been supporting). So that's nice. It shows that they've decided not to let themselves be pushed around by insurgents and maybe try to work together.
Here's the link.
www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9659209/
There's sort of a grudging tone to it, I always think they regret to report anything positive going on. I suppose it takes more talent to show the brighter side in an interesting way, and it's much easier to rake the mud.
Even a positive glimmer leaked into the mainstream media: Sunnis have agreed to vote on the Iraqi constitution (which only Shiites and Kurds had been supporting). So that's nice. It shows that they've decided not to let themselves be pushed around by insurgents and maybe try to work together.
Here's the link.
www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9659209/
There's sort of a grudging tone to it, I always think they regret to report anything positive going on. I suppose it takes more talent to show the brighter side in an interesting way, and it's much easier to rake the mud.
You know, it's too bad. Because when they don't report what is going right, and only what's going wrong, it fosters an unnecessary level of embitterment among the society they cater to. They have to report the facts and all that, but the way it's done can effect how people see each other, themselves, their role in the world, whether or not your vote matters, etc. etc. You don't want to get so negative that people just give up.
seafarer said:
You know, it's too bad. Because when they don't report what is going right, and only what's going wrong, it fosters an unnecessary level of embitterment among the society they cater to. They have to report the facts and all that, but the way it's done can effect how people see each other, themselves, their role in the world, whether or not your vote matters, etc. etc. You don't want to get so negative that people just give up.
Well said girl....bullseye
It is not the question of whether the news is good or bad that determines whether it gets reported. It is dependent on the political views of both the individual broadcaster and the media establishment as a whole.
In the case of IRAQ mutually reinforcing beliefs; anti Americanism, blind faith in multilateralism, and pacifism, mean that this is the subject above all others where the news will be distorted.
>> Edited by JagLover on Wednesday 12th October 09:04
In the case of IRAQ mutually reinforcing beliefs; anti Americanism, blind faith in multilateralism, and pacifism, mean that this is the subject above all others where the news will be distorted.
>> Edited by JagLover on Wednesday 12th October 09:04
Sorry to drop a JDAM on your good news in Iraq parade but the reason that you hardly ever hear good news is that the news is overwhelmingly bad.
So what we have here is a website devoted to sending out school kits to kids in Iraq.
Well put that in perspective with the death toll so far this year.
US Troops 626 Dead
UK Troops 20 Dead
Security Contractors 70 Dead
Iraqi Police/Military 2063 Dead
Iraqi civilians 5000 Dead
http://icasualties.org/oif/default.aspx
Other good news stories you might hear are 'Water was restored to 5000 Iraqis today', all sounds good until you realise that 250 000 were bombed out of it in the first place.
As for the Sunnis agreeing on the constitution, well one minor Sunni party agreed on a mechanism to consider amending the constitution after it is approved in Saturday's referendum.
But other the major Sunni parties were not present at the negotiations, and at least one senior Sunni leader said he was not yet convinced by the measure.
"The Islamic party was participating alone in these negotiations and making its own decisions," al-Mutlaq said. "This is strange because the Iraqi Islamic party does not represent all the Sunni Arabs but only a small percentage of them."
But if isolated spots of good news gives you the warm and fuzzies fine, but I prefer to look at the real picture of what's going on.
So what we have here is a website devoted to sending out school kits to kids in Iraq.
Well put that in perspective with the death toll so far this year.
US Troops 626 Dead
UK Troops 20 Dead
Security Contractors 70 Dead
Iraqi Police/Military 2063 Dead
Iraqi civilians 5000 Dead
http://icasualties.org/oif/default.aspx
Other good news stories you might hear are 'Water was restored to 5000 Iraqis today', all sounds good until you realise that 250 000 were bombed out of it in the first place.
As for the Sunnis agreeing on the constitution, well one minor Sunni party agreed on a mechanism to consider amending the constitution after it is approved in Saturday's referendum.
But other the major Sunni parties were not present at the negotiations, and at least one senior Sunni leader said he was not yet convinced by the measure.
"The Islamic party was participating alone in these negotiations and making its own decisions," al-Mutlaq said. "This is strange because the Iraqi Islamic party does not represent all the Sunni Arabs but only a small percentage of them."
But if isolated spots of good news gives you the warm and fuzzies fine, but I prefer to look at the real picture of what's going on.
Hilts said:
Sorry to drop a JDAM on your good news in Iraq parade but the reason that you hardly ever hear good news is that the news is overwhelmingly bad.
So what we have here is a website devoted to sending out school kits to kids in Iraq.
Well put that in perspective with the death toll so far this year.
US Troops 626 Dead
UK Troops 20 Dead
Security Contractors 70 Dead
Iraqi Police/Military 2063 Dead
Iraqi civilians 5000 Dead
http://icasualties.org/oif/default.aspx
Other good news stories you might hear are 'Water was restored to 5000 Iraqis today', all sounds good until you realise that 250 000 were bombed out of it in the first place.
As for the Sunnis agreeing on the constitution, well one minor Sunni party agreed on a mechanism to consider amending the constitution after it is approved in Saturday's referendum.
But other the major Sunni parties were not present at the negotiations, and at least one senior Sunni leader said he was not yet convinced by the measure.
"The Islamic party was participating alone in these negotiations and making its own decisions," al-Mutlaq said. "This is strange because the Iraqi Islamic party does not represent all the Sunni Arabs but only a small percentage of them."
But if isolated spots of good news gives you the warm and fuzzies fine, but I prefer to look at the real picture of what's going on.
Take the time to read the second, longer link....after the "school kit" one. You are the same kind of guy who said the same type of things before there was an Iraqi election in which more people voted than in the US or any EU country. Now after each succesive step forward, you will be pointing out why the next step won't work.
jimbeaux said:
Hilts said:
Sorry to drop a JDAM on your good news in Iraq parade but the reason that you hardly ever hear good news is that the news is overwhelmingly bad.
So what we have here is a website devoted to sending out school kits to kids in Iraq.
Well put that in perspective with the death toll so far this year.
US Troops 626 Dead
UK Troops 20 Dead
Security Contractors 70 Dead
Iraqi Police/Military 2063 Dead
Iraqi civilians 5000 Dead
<a href="http://icasualties.org/oif/default.aspx"><a href="http://icasualties.org/oif/default.aspx">http://icasualties.org/oif/default.aspx</a></a>
Other good news stories you might hear are 'Water was restored to 5000 Iraqis today', all sounds good until you realise that 250 000 were bombed out of it in the first place.
As for the Sunnis agreeing on the constitution, well one minor Sunni party agreed on a mechanism to consider amending the constitution after it is approved in Saturday's referendum.
But other the major Sunni parties were not present at the negotiations, and at least one senior Sunni leader said he was not yet convinced by the measure.
"The Islamic party was participating alone in these negotiations and making its own decisions," al-Mutlaq said. "This is strange because the Iraqi Islamic party does not represent all the Sunni Arabs but only a small percentage of them."
But if isolated spots of good news gives you the warm and fuzzies fine, but I prefer to look at the real picture of what's going on.
Take the time to read the second, longer link....after the "school kit" one.
I already read it and there was nothing worth commenting on, note it's a year old anyway.
However, just to take whole of the first paragraph about Humvee armour in the article. Of the 28 US soldiers killed so far this month, 20 were killed in Humvees which blows away the article writer's idea that "most stories make it sound like our guys are all riding around in pickup trucks".
DoD said:
The Department of Defense announced today the death of three soldiers who were supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom. They died in Al Haqlaniyah, Iraq, on Oct. 3, when an improvised explosive device detonated near their HMMWV during combat operations. The soldiers were assigned to the 3rd Battalion, 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 82nd Airborne Division, Fort Bragg, N.C.
jimbeaux said:
You are the same kind of guy who said the same type of things before there was an Iraqi election in which more people voted than in the US or any EU country. Now after each succesive step forward, you will be pointing out why the next step won't work.
I'll acknowledge progress when I see it however all I see is a once fairly stable country, albeit under a dictator, now on the brink of civil-war and vultures picking over the rotten corpse and getting fat, very fat, on the profits.
>> Edited by Hilts on Wednesday 12th October 15:52
JagLover said:
It is not the question of whether the news is good or bad that determines whether it gets reported. It is dependent on the political views of both the individual broadcaster and the media establishment as a whole.
>> Edited by JagLover on Wednesday 12th October 09:04
Your little hobby horse again?
So how does the holy and sacred Telegraph report the democratic paradise of Iraq? Does it report the daily suicide attacks, the constitution falling to pieces, the country spiralling into civil war? Did it report the thefts by Iraqi ministers of hundreds of millions of dollars?
Maybe all these stories are a media conspiracy, maybe not. Perhaps it's the duty of the news media organisation to broadcast all the news, sadly in this case, the bad outweighs the good by a long way.
968 said:
Your little hobby horse again?
So how does the holy and sacred Telegraph report the democratic paradise of Iraq? Does it report the daily suicide attacks,
It reports all the bad news yes.
However Jimbeaux was asking why good news is not reported more widely(and there has been some, such as a recent agreement on the constition) and I provided the reason.
I recognise that all media sorces are biased and you need to understand that bias otherwise you will be misled.
Jaglover said:
However Jimbeaux was asking why good news is not reported more widely(and there has been some, such as a recent agreement on the constition) and I provided the reason.
I recognise that all media sorces are biased and you need to understand that bias otherwise you will be misled.
The constitution that's not worth the paper it's written on you mean? That's good news? The constitution which has been manipulated by the Shias and Kurds to marginalise the Sunnis and allow creation of semi-autonomous areas within Iraq?
So that's the good news......
968 said:
However Jimbeaux was asking why good news is not reported more widely(and there has been some, such as a recent agreement on the constition) and I provided the reason.
I recognise that all media sorces are biased and you need to understand that bias otherwise you will be misled.
The constitution that's not worth the paper it's written on you mean? That's good news? The constitution which has been manipulated by the Shias and Kurds to marginalise the Sunnis and allow creation of semi-autonomous areas within Iraq?
So that's the good news......
No, it would have been better to leave all as it was.....the systematic creation of mass graves of 300,000 plus people slaughtered by a dictator...over...and over, as opposed to your claims of a "flawed" constitution. The word constitution, flawed or otherwise, had no place under Saddam....that alone is a step forward.
968 said:
However Jimbeaux was asking why good news is not reported more widely(and there has been some, such as a recent agreement on the constition) and I provided the reason.
I recognise that all media sorces are biased and you need to understand that bias otherwise you will be misled.
The constitution that's not worth the paper it's written on you mean? That's good news? The constitution which has been manipulated by the Shias and Kurds to marginalise the Sunnis and allow creation of semi-autonomous areas within Iraq?
So that's the good news......
Seems like a perfectly satisfactory constitution to me, with a good federal structure. The Sunni Arabs are unhappy because they are not in control anymore, but it suits the vast majority of Iraq's inhabitants.
Do you see the Kurds, who have been independent for over a decade, accepting a centralised state?
968 said:
The constitution that's not worth the paper it's written on you mean? That's good news? The constitution which has been manipulated by the Shias and Kurds to marginalise the Sunnis and allow creation of semi-autonomous areas within Iraq?
So that's the good news......
The same constitution of which about two dozen boxes were found thrown in a Dora garbage dump apparently a sign of opposition or of shopkeepers fears of having the document around.
Gassing Station | The Pie & Piston Archive | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff