Iraq War Coverage - Essay Example

Iraq War Coverage The coverage provided by the media for any event can come with inherent biases that depend on the point of view taken by the coverage provider. An individual may be called a freedom fighter by one party and a terrorist by another while another media source may call a person a civilian while the rest term that person as an enemy combatant without a uniform. To better understand how mainstream media, independent sources as well as foreign news sources are covering the Iraq war; an analysis of different materials is certainly required. Towards this end a study of various news articles from different sources is made to understand the nature of the coverage and the framing of news stories. The first article comes from the New York Times and it is has been written by Richard Oppel to describe how a buried bomb killed five American soldiers in Iraq. The second article is also from the New York Times, written by Steven Farrell and it discusses how American soldiers have been charged with the murder of Iraqi civilians. From the foreign news sources, Aljazeera.net provides us with two articles where the first shows how the president’s plan for Iraq is coming under fire and the second shows how deaths in Iraq have fallen in number. Finally we have an article from PBS.org that discusses how the military is handling the issue of homemade Iraqi bombs. The commonality between all articles is the fact that they are dealing with the Iraq war and all of them are trying to present both sides of the issue. However, for the American sources, there is a clear differentiation between the right and wrong side. Aljazeera also has offered its own clear distinction but it is quite different from the one given by the New York Times. The independent news source, i.e. PBS.org, presents the transcript of an interview with various individuals from different fields that have been to Iraq and can understand the situation on the ground. Another similarity between the all the news sources is their data gathering which seeks to get information from all possible sources. For example, the New York Times gets statements from American soldiers as well as American government officials regarding the situation in Iraq. They also got words from the anti-American clerics who are part of the leadership in the Mahdi Army that has been reportedly engaged in attacks on American interests in Iraq. Similarly, the foreign news source i.e. Aljazeera reports on what the American statesmen are saying about the war in Iraq and one would think that such statements could present a more rounded view of the situation. However, the statements from the Iraqi resistance are clearly anti-American and seem to be blaming American soldiers for killing innocent civilians. On the other hand, the statements from American government officials on the war in Iraq that have been reported by Aljazeera focus on how bad the war is going. Undoubtedly, some American officials could have also talked about the progress that has been made in Iraq regarding the creation of a free civilian government but it appears that such statements would be out of context in the story being reported by Aljazeera. A very important difference between the articles can be seen in what Aljazeera and the New York Times appear to focus on when they discuss the number of deaths in Iraq. For example, the New York Times counts American soldiers in Iraq and bemoans the fact that, “330 troops have been killed over the past three months (Oppel, 2007, Pg. 1)”. On the other hand, Aljazeera is counting the number of civilian deaths by saying that “Iraqi civilian deaths dropped to 1,241 last month (Aljazeera[2], 2007, Pg. 1)”. To their credit, the New York Times does not mention how many of the American soldiers were killed as a result of being an occupying force in a country where American soldiers have been raping 14 year old girls and murdering families while Aljazeera does not seem to acknowledge how many of the same civilians were killed by American soldiers trying to defend themselves against suicide bombers or religious fanatics. As a nod to impartiality, the New York Times does mention cases of rape and murder that have been committed by American officers and Aljazeera does say that many civilians in Iraq are also killed due to the fighting that goes on between various factions. However, neither source seems to give the complete picture and it could lead some readers of both news sources to think that it is nearly impossible to find out what the whole picture is. The problem with understanding what is happening on the ground comes from a difference in culture and how the conflict is viewed by people that are a part of the culture where the war is taking place. Perhaps the best example of how a description of events is understood by different cultures is given by the first speech George W. Bush gave after the 9/11 attacks in which he used the word ‘crusade’ to signify America’s stance in the war against terror. The effect of the use of this word was immediate since there is a deep cultural connection to the word crusade and the brutal century long wars between the Muslims and the Christians in the Middle Ages. The reverberations from this word were felt across the world as the Middle Eastern media as well as the western media considered it the call for a war of civilizations (Carroll, J. 2004). At that time, government officials almost apologized for the President using this word and started giving explanations for the context in which the word was used. It seems that President Bush was not looking for a war against all Muslims but it is likely that many people in the Middle East could certainly see it as seeking a war against all Muslims which would be waged by Christians (Li, 2002). When the speech given by Bush was translated into Arabic for the benefit of the Middle Eastern viewers, the closest translation to crusade became ‘war of the cross’ (Carroll, J. 2004). Undoubtedly, it served to agitate more Muslims than to help in winning their hearts and minds. Similarly, the present situation described by Aljazeera[1] (2007) and Aljazeera[2] (2007) does not create a very high opinion of the war against terror or the Bush administration for those people who use it as news source. For example, the reports of cracks within the administration on the stance in Iraq only creates more doubts about when and how the American armies will exit the country and how they will come to terms with the Iraqi government as well as the Iraqi people who certainly appear to be resisting their presence in Iraq. Both Oppel (2007) and Farrell (2007) are writing for an American news source and they seem to be in agreement on the fact that American soldiers as well as the American supported Iraqi government are having trouble in getting the right message to their Iraqi people who are resisting them. The message should certainly not be connected with the crusades. Clearly, even a single word used carelessly in a conflict situation can lead to problems and hostilities since one culture may color a word very differently from another. Of course the cultural context of the crusades in their time was completely different but the images conjured by the word would certainly not mitigate the fears of the Muslim nations today (Li, 2002). In the same manner, considering the deaths of American soldiers to be worthy of news while the news of death of Iraqi civilians to be a footnote can not be something which the Iraqi people could really accept as a sign of partnership and equality between the occupied country and the occupying forces. Of course there may be other ways to prevent death and destruction and as suggested by the transcript given on the PBS website, technology could certainly help in reducing the number of casualties for America. However, it must be understood that in the given situation, all casualties are deaths of human beings which require compassion and understanding for both sides of the issue. On the whole, it does appear that the American media source, i.e. the New York Times is presenting a more comprehensive picture than Aljazeera since the New York Times mentions both American atrocities and the deaths of American soldiers fighting off attacks. Aljazeera focuses entirely on the deaths of Iraqis and does not focus too much on the deaths of the members of the allied forces. In conclusion, I feel that it is difficult to understand what is really happening in a given situation since different viewpoints often serve themselves rather than serve the truth. However, this does not invalidate the account since all sides want to report the truth even if they are reporting different aspects of the truth. Clearly, for those who are seeking the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, no single news source should be enough and it would be better for them if the news sources differ in their focus with regard to the coverage of events. After all, the more information we have the better informed choices we can make. Word Count: 1,671 Works Cited Aljazeera[1], 2007, ‘Republicans criticise Bush on Iraq’, Aljazeera, [Online] Available at: http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/592365C3-AAF0-40E2-A5CA-6EB958B4CB05.htm Aljazeera[2], 2007, ‘Fall in monthly Iraqi deaths’, Aljazeera, [Online] Available at: http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/6DB51DED-845E-4D5F-B178-12B5CE3D6A34.htm Carroll, J. 2004, ‘The Bush Crusade’, Nation, vol. 279, no. 8, pp. 14-22. Farrell, S. 2007, ‘2 U.S. Soldiers Charged With Murder of 3 Iraqis’, New York Times, [Online] Available at: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/01/world/middleeast/01iraq.html Li, X. 2002, ‘Dichotomies and Paradoxes: The West and Islam’, Journal of Interdisciplinary International Relations, vol. 16, no. 4, pp. 401-418. Oppel, R. 2007, ‘Buried Bomb Kills 5 G.I.’s in Baghdad Neighborhood’, New York Times, [Online] Available at: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/30/world/middleeast/30iraq.html?_r=1&ref=world&oref=slogin PBS. 2007, ‘Military Grapples with Onslaught of Homemade Bombs in Iraq’, PBS.org, [Online] Available at: http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/middle_east/jan-june07/ied_06-21.html Read More