Counting on Catastrophe III

A couple of surveys by the folks from MRC.

First, a press release, Jan. 31 (emphasis and quoted ellipses in original):

.... Rather was right to be cheered by Sunday’s events, but if the Iraqis had listened to the chorus of negativity coming from reporters in the days and weeks before the vote, he might not have had any good news to report. Pessimistic journalists suggested the election would be worthless and dangerous: Too few would vote to make the results “legitimate” while at the same time an army of terrorists would create a “bloodbath.”

    ■ Election Might “Demolish” Iraq: On his syndicated Chris Matthews Show this weekend, the openly anti-war MSNBC anchor comically suggested that the election might destroy Iraq. In a show taped before voting began, Matthews set up the topic: “Birth of a nation — will elections unite Iraq or ignite civil war? Will this weekend's vote create a country or demolish it?...For Iraqis, a moment teeming with risk and potential: liberation or devastation.”

    ■ A “Bloodbath” on Sunday: FNC war reporter Steve Harrigan, who spent most of the last two years in Iraq, was deeply pessimistic in a Friday morning appearance on Fox & Friends. “I think there’s going to be a bloodbath on Sunday,” he predicted. “All over the place, especially in Baghdad and a few other cities, Mosul....About half the country’s in big trouble.” NBC’s Matt Lauer hit the same theme as he began that morning’s Today: “Bloody countdown. Amid growing violence, will Iraq be able to hold its first free elections in more than 50 years?”

    ■ “No Way” Election Can Happen: Two months ago, some reporters suggested that the plan for holding elections on January 30 was an optimistic fantasy. On the November 26 Today, NBC’s Katie Couric said elections “seem to be really questionable at this point in time.” A few days later, on the December 5 Evening News, weekend anchor Mika Brzezinski declared that the situation in Iraq “seems only to worsen as election day gets closer and closer....Some are now saying there is no way the election deadline can be met.”

    ■ ... And No Legitimacy: Reporters argued the vote would mean nothing if the minority Sunnis stayed home. “If nearly a quarter of the population does not participate,” ABC’s David Wright wondered on World News Tonight January 5, “will the vote be legitimate?” And anyone predicting a high participation rate was labeled an “optimist,” i.e., unrealistic. “Election officials optimistically predict a 50 percent voter turnout,” reporter Kimberly Dozier announced on CBS’s Early Show January 25. In fact, the turnout was much higher, with early estimates that 60 percent of Iraqis voted.

    ■ Jennings Still Unsatisfied: On Sunday’s World News Tonight, ABC’s Peter Jennings seemed less than impressed. “It seemed a strange way to experience the democratic process, from the back of a heavily-armored vehicle,” he grumped. In “parts of the Sunni Muslim heartland, it looks as if the election process has been rejected,” Jennings sourly suggested. “Without Sunni participation, somehow, the future here is still pretty bleak.” ....

Second, Brent Bozell's column, Feb. 2:

.... Let’s take a moment to reconsider the avalanche of media pessimism that aimed to kick the can and postpone all this happiness into a nebulous future somewhere down the road. In November, CBS reporter Kimberly Dozier warned that "Some believe just talking about elections can get them killed." In December, CBS Sunday anchor Mika Brzezinski was positively despondent: "To the battle for Iraq now, which seems to only worsen as Election Day gets closer and closer," she said. "Some are now saying there is no way the election deadline can be met." Who were these "some," the anonymous stand-ins for every pessimistic media brain cramp?

The numerical predictions could turn out to be quite embarrassing. On "The Chris Matthews Show" in December, the perfectly named Katty Kay of the BBC predicted "five percent" turnout in Mosul. (Mosul’s turnout, while it may end up being comparatively low, was one of the really joyous surprises.) In mid-January, CBS reporter David Hawkins lobbied for electoral delay: "Despite warnings that in some places voter turnout may be less than 10 percent...Is there any discussion about delaying the vote?" NBC reporter Jim Maceda warned "only half" of Iraq’s voters would turn out because "as the violence spreads, so does the panic. Election workers are under siege. Candidates are dropping out. An election some call historic, but the fear factor is taking its toll."

Even on January 25, CBS’s Dozier was back to insult Iraq as "an unlikely place for a free and fair election...Now many Iraqis say they’re under siege by an unwelcome, sometimes brutal occupier and trapped in a war between those foreign forces and terrorists." Could we have a more ridiculous example of moral equivalence? She then warned "Election officials optimistically predict a 50 percent voter turnout." ....

Lane Core Jr. CIW P — Fri. 02/04/05 07:35:52 PM
Categorized as Media.