Why Not Call It Eighteen Gahzillion?
October 11th, 2006 | by Todd W |OK, this post is NOT going to be about justifying the war. We’ve done that here, a lot, and the situation is fluid.
AP is running a story stating 655,000 Iraqis have died as a result of the war.
My ire is directed at crap like this being reported as if it were fact. Does anyone seriously believe 2.5% of the population of Iraq has been killed by action directly related to the war, as the study contends? Have their been 770 war related deaths EVERY DAY since the invasion in early 2003?
Furthermore, the center that released this study released another study just prior to the 2004 election, claiming 100,000 war related deaths by November of 2004. So in two years, they come back and tack on another half-million?!
The work updates an earlier Johns Hopkins study — that one was released just before the November 2004 presidential election. At the time, the lead researcher, Les Roberts of Hopkins, said the timing was deliberate. Many of the same researchers were involved in the latest estimate.
At least he admits the timing was intended to coincide with the election. I guess since they didn’t get the result they wanted, they come back with a sixfold increase and try again.
An accurate count of Iraqi deaths has been difficult to obtain, but one respected group puts its rough estimate at closer to 50,000. And at least one expert was skeptical of the new findings.
“They’re almost certainly way too high,” said Anthony Cordesman of the Center for Strategic & International Studies in Washington. He criticized the way the estimate was derived and noted that the results were released shortly before the Nov. 7 elections in the United States.
“This is not analysis, this is politics,” Cordesman said.
And CNN takes the AP story and gives it a headline that suggests the number is fact - “655,000 Iraqis dead since invasion, study says”. How many normal people will glance at that, feel horrified, and move on, never taking the time to read the story. Suddenly, the number is embedded in culture, and you’ll hear it kicked around over casual coffee for the next year or so, as if it is fact.
This is so ultimately dishonest, I’m sick about it. Sure,the AP story provides the details, but those who are willing to dig into the text aren’t the people they are trying to influence here.
For comparison, as of this writing, Fox News hasn’t even mentioned the story on the front page. MSNBC - “Disputed study suggest higher Iraqi death toll”. Good for MSNBC! CBS News - “Study: 655,000 Iraqis Killed”. ABC News - “655,000 Iraqi Civilians Dead Because of War, Group Claims”. A little better, at least they say ‘claims’. BBC News - “Iraqi death toll ‘at 655,000′”. Geez, the Beeb just comes right out and elevates it to fact. I doubt those scare quotes will cut through the shock when a Tube rider glances at the paper in the coin box on his way to work.
Why can’t the media simply report in a way that doesn’t try to mislead? What is wrong with “Disputed study claims 655,000 Iraqi deaths since war”? There you go. You get the facts. If you want more, start reading.
The Republic depends on an informed electorate. The Media has a primal role in informing that electorate. It isn’t going to keep working if they are more interested in influencing power over reporting the facts.
