Was directed to Chernkoff today, who has provided a list of positive stories coming out of Iraq, along with the argument that these stories aren't being reported in the news. Of them, 22 or 43.1% come from American Media Sources (National Papers, Local Papers, TV Websites, Yahoo News and so on).
13 (or 25.5%) come from Middle Eastern Media sources, mostly Iraq Press and the Daily Star.
5 stories (or 9.8%) came from the British press and another 5 (or 9.8%) from the American Conservative Press. Separated out the Conservative Press (i.e. Fox News and the Washington Post as well as an editorial from National Review) because the point is that the liberal media is hiding the truth, and to mix them in would skew the numbers.
4 stories (7.8%) came from US Governmental stories, and 2 of the links (3.92%) were to websites that didn't fit into any easy category (specifically a link to the Iraqi Stock Exchange and another to a project to help Iraqi Children).
As far as content, 40 of the articles, or 70.4%, are straight news articles. There were 7 editorials (13.7%) 1 interview (2.0%), and 3 that I couldn't classify (5.88%). Overwhelmingly they were published since the beginning of June, the majority being put out in the last week.
There are a few questions that this analysis raises, that I don't have solid answers for.
1. Is he cherrypicking? A number of articles are Reuters articles or AP articles that might very well appear in the New York Times. Is he looking for those articles at local papers, so as to promote his story that the New York Times (bastion of the so called "Liberal Media") is ignoring good stories coming out of Iraq? For a lark I might go through and see if I can find some of these stories on Iraq.
2. How do you weigh these stories? Among others we see stories on how Baghdad Policemen are cracking down on Traffic Violations. We see stories on how Viagra sales are up in Iraq. We see stories on how Jordan is training Iraqi Bankers. I'm not sure these are stories that deserve big headlines. Although I do understand the argument that a lot of little positive stories add up to a larger, more positive picture of Iraq.
Anyway worth checking out.
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