The Good News Is the Bad News Is Incomplete

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USA Today reports that “high-profile critics are stepping up their complaints about the media’s work” in Iraq:

Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, long critical of what he sees as overly negative reporting, told reporters this month: “From what I’ve seen thus far, much of the reporting in the U.S. and abroad has exaggerated the situation.”

President Bush said Tuesday, “For every act of violence there is encouraging progress in Iraq that’s hard to capture on the evening news.”

“Have we undercovered the good news?” asks John Burns, Baghdad bureau chief for The New York Times. “We probably have. But there’s nothing willful about it. I would enter a plea of mitigation that we are overstretched.”

ABC News says it is listening to viewer complaints about Iraq coverage:

Over the last 24 hours, ABC News has been reading hundreds of messages sent in by viewers in response to President Bush’s claim that the media are undermining support for war in Iraq.

Viewer opinions ran the gamut, but the vast majority believed the media were biased in their Iraq coverage.

The media may not be covering good news from Iraq, but at least they’re covering their failure to cover good news from Iraq. We guess it’s a start.

For the complete posting, go to OpinionJournal.com and scroll down.