Patriotism and reporters

On Nov. 6 I posted “The Press at War.” It concerned James Q. Wilson’s WSJ op-ed on the role of press bias in undermining America’s efforts in Iraq now and in Vietnam during the 60s.

A blog friend emails today with more by Wilson on the same subject. Excerpts from Wilson’s essay in City Journal with blog friend’s comments in italics.
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Austin Bay posts on a James Q. Wilson piece about patriotism and reporters. Some excerpts:

We are told by careful pollsters that half of the American people believe that American troops should be brought home from Iraq immediately. This news discourages supporters of our efforts there. Not me, though: I am relieved. Given press coverage of our efforts in Iraq, I am surprised that 90 percent of the public do not want us out right now.

Between January 1 and September 30, 2005, nearly 1,400 stories appeared on the ABC, CBS, and NBC evening news. More than half focused on the costs and problems of the war, four times as many as those that discussed the successes. About 40 percent of the stories reported terrorist attacks; scarcely any reported the triumphs of American soldiers and marines. The few positive stories about progress in Iraq were just a small fraction of all the broadcasts.

When the Center for Media and Public Affairs made a nonpartisan evaluation of network news broadcasts, it found that during the active war against Saddam Hussein, 51 percent of the reports about the conflict were negative. Six months after the land battle ended, 77 percent were negative; in the 2004 general election, 89 percent were negative; by the spring of 2006, 94 percent were negative. This decline in media support was much faster than during Korea or Vietnam….

Wilson concludes:

The mainstream media’s adversarial stance, both here and abroad, means that whenever a foreign enemy challenges us, he will know that his objective will be to win the battle not on some faraway bit of land but among the people who determine what we read and watch. We won the Second World War in Europe and Japan, but we lost in Vietnam and are in danger of losing in Iraq and Lebanon in the newspapers, magazines, and television programs we enjoy.

The MSM has a lot to answer for….
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My blog friend has it right. But how do we counter the effects of a press that magnifies any American mistake or wrong action (Remember all those Abu Ghraib stories?)while seeking to "understand," not America's enemies, but "the insurgents."

In WW II the press routinely referred to American forces as "we" and "our" and German and Japanese forces as "the enemy." Katie Couric or Brian Williams would never make that "mistake," would they? That would be a bigger mistake than going on camera without their makeup.

Hat Tip: Mike Williams