Positive Spin Award



In war the battle is waged in what the media reports (and neglects to report) as much as the actual bombs and bullets that fly in the battle field. During this short war we daily here of reports of chemical finds, cities occupied, and the death of Saddam only to be retracted a few hours later. The cycle has become predictable with the end result that it is hard to follow the news without being skeptical of anything that you are hearing is actual fact.



Last night the attack on Saddam Hussein was reported first of all on MSNBC and then quickly picked up by all of the news networks. They seemed unaware that video of the results of the attack were readily available. I had watched the video that was released about an hour after the "breaking story" about three hours before on the International News Network which had run the story as an attack on a "residential area" of Baghdad and therefore a place where civilian casualties had resulted. The American press which has avoided any reference to such stories evidently also missed out on having the video of the results that in fact turned out to be an attack on Saddam Hussein himself.



In the midst of all of this one wonders if the media will need to be "liberated" once this war is over with or has the government found a way to keep them under wraps? One has only to look at the almost comical reports of the Iraqi foreign minister who yards away from American tanks continues to give positive reports about the great successes the Iraqi military is enjoying. I say it is comical until you realize that our media is quickly becoming the same kind of joke.



Anyway the government, the church, corporations should all take notes on the positive spin this guy can put on the worst situation. So we give the "Positive Spin Award" to the Iraqi Information Minister, who Fox News has nicknamed Baghdad Bob but who's real name is Mohammed Saeed al Sahaf.







Today he has given a ultimatum to the American troops who must surrender he says or be burned in their tanks...



b>The Agonist Provides a Timeline for the Reporting of the Saddam Bombing



The Agonist:



1.) 7 April; 3 pm Baghdad time / 1:00 GMT / 7 AM EDT

Airstrike occurrs (according to NYT).



2.) 7 April; 18:35 GMT / 2:35 EDT

Reuters reports "Homes Razed..." (posted by The Agonist @ 3:37 PM EDT)



Other links to the story break:here, here and here.



3.) 8 April; 1:56 GMT / 9:56 PM EDT

Reuters reports "Saddam Targeted..."



4.) 8 April; 2:44 GMT / 10:44 PM EDT

Reuters reports "U.S. Bombs Target (Saddam)..."

(this article subsequently appended at 3:32 GMT).