How to Change the News on Iraq

Reacting to the Administration's PR offensive against media coverage of Iraq, EJ Dionne relates an instructive experience from his days in Beirut.

While in Beirut, I regularly visited a lovely restaurant I found to be a refuge amid the bedlam, even though getting there meant braving a sniper point. The taxi driver would gun through a broad street that was the danger zone, hoping not to hear the crack of an automatic rifle.

But what was the overall "news" of this situation: the story of the intrepid entrepreneur who managed to keep his restaurant open -- and the countless others like him who behaved with the same energy and determination? Or that Beirut was a brutalized city where shells landed regularly, snipers plied their trade and car bombs would go off unexpectedly?

Yes, I tried to write about Beirut's brave souls, but here's a hint about what the real news was: The U.S. government was not overreacting when it sent those diplomats out to safety.

So I am sure that some good things are happening in Iraq and that there are Americans there doing difficult jobs well. But right now, the news is not of what's normal. When U.S. soldiers get killed and wounded, when explosions rip through buildings, when Iraqi leaders and civilians are dying, that, alas, is the news.

This news may contradict the optimistic predictions made by the administration, so I don't blame Bush or his supporters for not liking what they are seeing or reading. But changing the news won't change the situation. Improving the situation will change the news.

[emphasis added]