Press Pull-out in Iraq

CBS’s Public Eye contributor Brian Montopoli shares an interesting dispatch from a friend of his in Baghdad:

…while the hotel used to be full of journalists, many either left the country after the December elections or were pulled out by their publications, which have been cutting back on Baghdad staff as things have gotten progressively more dangerous. The day I checked in, the only people I saw were a few middle-aged Iraqi men in leather jackets forlornly smoking by the front desk, and a lonely cafeteria attendant, sitting at his cash register watching a soap opera.

In fact, I didn’t see any Westerners at all until my second day, when I contacted the acting bureau chief for an American paper who was staying in my hotel. As we were discussing the state of reporting in Baghdad and Iraq in general, he told me that I was a little late to the game. These days, more American reporters are leaving Iraq than arriving. In large part, for the U.S. press, “The party’s pretty much over.”

Interesting. Inconsistant but interesting. Are the journalists leaving because Baghdad is “progressively more dangerous” or because “the party is pretty much over.”

Seems like Baghdad was more dangerous a year or so ago, than it does now, doesn’t it? I mean…there have been three elections – insurgent attacks are down…not to say danger is not real, and possible, but that just seemed like a jarring inconsistancy. I don’t think the writer was being inconsistant – he simply related two very different ideas from different sources.

I dunno…do credible news agencies leave a war that is in full swing? Michael Yon seems to find plenty to write about, and not all of it is tragic, either.

But maybe I’m being picky. Montopoli writes, “If you’re interested in going beyond the typical, trite debate about why the news from Iraq is “slanted” the way it is, McLeary’s dispatches are a must read,” and he recommends Paul McLeary’s dispatches.

I don’t particularly think the debate on the state of reportage on the war – and elsewhere – is a “trite” one. I think it’s pretty important, actually, because how things are reported has real impact in and on our nation.

But what do I know, I am just a lowly blogger. :-)