Is the AP even going to try to count the Iraqi dead?
December 02, 2008 4:59 pm ET by MMFA Staff
Apparently not.
Here's a recent swipe as the topic:
The war has claimed more than 4,200 American lives and killed a far greater, untold number of Iraqis, consumed huge reserves of money and resources and eroded the global stature of the United States, even among its closest allies.
The Media Bloundhound is not impressed:
How's that for a statistically rigorous accounting? With the exactitude of a third-grader's book report cribbed from a novel's dust jacket copy, the AP -- America's #1 wire news service -- blankets US news outlets with a quantification of Iraqi casualties that would've made Stalin proud. Seriously, it's 2008.
The Media Bloundhound isn't shocked though. The press has been absolutely allergic to the critical question of Iraqi deaths ever since the war began. And by the way, if the AP were actually interested, the floor to that Iraqi number probably begins around 250,000. Placed alongside the 4,200 figure, it sure raises lots of uncomfortable questions, doesn't it?
