Is Bad News Too Good?

This is an interesting tid-bit from the folks at the Media Research Center.

NYT Admits Good Iraq News May Be "Crowded Out" Safely tucked away on Page
two of Monday's Business section Monday is Katharine Seelye's "Editors Ponder
How to Present a Broad Picture of Iraq," in which editors from the Associated
Press admit that they are hamstrung from covering good news in Iraq.Seelye
describes an email received by Rosemary Goudreau, editorial page editor of The
Tampa Tribune: "'Did you know that 47 countries have re-established their
embassies in Iraq?' the anonymous polemic asks, in part. 'Did you know that
3,100 schools have been renovated?'….'Of course we didn't know!' the message
concludes. 'Our media doesn't tell us!'"Ms. Goudreau's newspaper, like most
dailies in America, relies largely on The Associated Press for its coverage of
the Iraq war. So she finally forwarded the e-mail message to Mike Silverman,
managing editor of The A.P., asking if there was a way to check these assertions
and to put them into context. Like many other journalists, Mr. Silverman had
also received a copy of the message."Ms. Goudreau's query prompted an unusual
discussion last month in New York at a regular meeting of editors whose
newspapers are members of The
Associated Press.

Some editors expressed concern that a kind of bunker mentality was
preventing reporters in Iraq from getting out and explaining the bigger picture
beyond the daily death tolls."Silverman makes an admission the Times and other
media organizations have been reluctant to make: That their readership isn't
getting the whole story about Iraq because, according to Silverman, "the wire
service was covering Iraq 'as accurately as we can' while 'also trying to keep
our people out of harm's way.'….The main obstacle we face,' he said, 'is the
severe limitation on our movement and our ability to get out and report.

It's very confining for our staff to go into Baghdad and have to spend
most of their time on the fifth floor of the Palestine Hotel,' which is home to
most of the press corps."

Their assertion is that the media do not have enough "space or time" to cover the good news in Iraq. As I posted earlier, there is a lot of good news there, but the media is not printing it for one specific reason: bad news sells. It's the question between "drivers" and "satisfiers." Bad news and tragedy drives one to the television or the newspaper. Good news is interesting, enlightening, uplifting even, but it is not a ratings grabber. That is why we have suffered for months of Natalee Holloway and other tragedy. It is why we get a death count every day and not a re-building count.

It is killing the main-stream media like the NY Times that the constitution in Iraq will make its deadline. That is good news. They would rather talk about deaths of soldiers "who shouldn't be in Iraq anyway because Bush lied." You know the line, "Bush lied and men died." You can see that specifically in the Sheehan story in Texas. It is one that Bush has handled poorly from a PR standpoint, but its anti-war sentiment would drive media coverage regardless.

The old addage in the newsrooms across America has been "Don't let the truth get in the way of a good story." It is happening in Iraq and it is happening with Gas prices.