Selling Bad News

[Conan71]

The U.S. job market grew by 88,000 jobs last month, but according to the AP (the wire service who also strings most print stories coming out of Iraq) that's bad news.  You have to read to the fifth paragraph of the article before you see that it's not considered all bad:

"Still, from the overall economic perspective, the slight slowing in hiring isn't worrisome, she said. "The numbers suggest some of the slowing in the economy is spilling over into the labor market but not in a major way," Reaser said."

I believe the AP realizes most people will only use a headline like: "Jobless rate rises as hiring slows" to base an opinion on the entire economy, and at the most read the first paragraph or two of a story.

How about changing the focus around to "hiring levels didn't meet expectations, but there was growth in health care, hospitality, government, and various professional and business services.

The paragraph structure is even written so that negatives are presented before positives:

"Economists were predicting the unemployment rate would nudge up to 4.5 percent. However, they expected job growth to be a bit stronger, with employers adding around 100,000 new jobs to their ranks. Even with the fractional rise in the overall rate, joblessness in the 4 percent to 5 percent is relatively low by historical standards."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070504/ap_on_bi_go_ec_fi/economy_95

Due to AP's near monopoly on wire service journalism, we are not told about new schools opening in Iraq, new water treatment plants, Iraqi citizens who appreciate our troops presence.

[NellieBly]

At least seven Iraqi children have died after their schools were caught up in a day of sustained violence across Baghdad and other parts of Iraq.
A mortar hit a Baghdad high school, killing at least five girls, while a bomb blast hit a primary school in Ramadi, leaving two children dead.

Fighting has meanwhile erupted near the holy city of Najaf, where a US military helicopter was reportedly shot down.

Police say 54 unidentified bodies were found in and around Baghdad on Sunday.

On Saturday, police said 40 bodies were found - such deaths generally attributed to sectarian violence.

The UN says that, on average, just under 100 people die through violence each day in Iraq.

The latest violence comes as Shia Muslims mark Ashura, one of their holiest festivals.

Parents grieve

Pupils at a secondary school in the mainly Sunni Adil district in west Baghdad were taking a break from lessons when two mortars landed in the yard.

Five girls were killed and 20 other pupils injured as the blast blew out classroom windows, spraying the children with debris and shards of glass.

A girl aged about 15 told Reuters news agency that she had been hit in the legs.

"I couldn't see much but what I saw was my friend Maha, who was lying beside me on the ground.


The Iraqi capital suffered a series of bombings on Sunday  

"The shrapnel hit her in the eyes and there was blood all over her face... She was dead."

Grieving parents flocked to the scene and wept as their children's bodies were placed inside wooden coffins.

It was not clear who fired the mortars but the school is in a district which has been the scene of frequent reprisal attacks by Sunni and Shia extremists.

A primary school in Ramadi, north-west of Baghdad, was caught up in the violence when a suicide truck bomber attacked a nearby Iraqi security base.

Military and hospital sources said two children and three guards at the base were killed, and 10 pupils were injured.


There's your school opening story. Good news!

[Conan71]

Whoa Nellie!

You proved my point.  Nothing sells better than bad news.  Do you ever bother to read any of the positive stories which come out of there or read accounts from U.S. servicemen who say we are needed there?

Has it occured to you that this violence would continue with or without U.S. troops in Iraq and likely would be worse if we leave prematurely?

[NellieBly]

I googled Iraq Schools -- didn't see much good news. Basically reporters say it's too dangerous to drive around Baghdad looking for happy school children.

This argument of the "liberal media" not covering school openings, happy Iraqis giving flowers to US soldiers, Iraqi people living happy normal lives, etc., has been around since 2003. Doesn't wash. Happy news? I find nothing happy about any news coming out of Iraq.

By the way, that story wasn't from the AP -- I find the European press does a much finer job of reporting the actual reality of Iraq.

[cannon_fodder]

The Europeans do a better job because there are so many more Europeans in Iraq than Americans.  American's clearly have no perspective from the 300,000 or so Americans over there.

Good economic news is hardly news.  If 88,000 people were laid off it would be headline news.

[Conan71]

quote:Originally posted by NellieBly


I googled Iraq Schools -- didn't see much good news. Basically reporters say it's too dangerous to drive around Baghdad looking for happy school children.

This argument of the "liberal media" not covering school openings, happy Iraqis giving flowers to US soldiers, Iraqi people living happy normal lives, etc., has been around since 2003. Doesn't wash. Happy news? I find nothing happy about any news coming out of Iraq.

By the way, that story wasn't from the AP -- I find the European press does a much finer job of reporting the actual reality of Iraq.

Yeah, that wonderful pro-American European press corps.  Great place to find un-biased news on the U.S..

Crux of the thread is that the media is more obsessed with reporting bad news than good.  Or taking good news and still finding something negative to mine out of it.  Look at story structure, paragraph structure, and sentence structure.

If you want to call them the liberal media, then go ahead.  My point is blood & guts sells, especially in reminding us daily of the deaths of U.S. troops.  Nowhere can you find stats on insurgents killed, nor a running toll on Al-Qaeda operatives killed since the start of the WOT.  The press doesn't care because that would show payback for the effort.  They've got the average reader hooked on bad news, not good.

If you are one to constantly look for negatives, then the majority of wire stories should please you.

[iplaw]

My google search yielded a bit more.  Your interwebz must be brokedid.

The United States has renovated more than 3,138 schools throughout Iraq including in many cases installing or repairing sanitary facilities for girls. During the 2003-2004 school year, 44% (1,920,401) of primary and 40% (620,834) of secondary students were girls. Enrollment is lowest for girls living in rural areas, and USAID's Accelerated Learning Program will help 10,000 Iraqi students including many rural girls return to school during the 2005-2006 academic year.

More than 33,000 secondary teachers and administrative staff, including more than 17,000 females, were trained in programs funded by USAID. Over the next year, up to 100,000 additional teachers and administrators will receive in-service training. -- US State Department


Reports and photo documentation were sent to the Ministry of Education and the Project Contracting Office, or PCO, a U.S. government organization that contracts for and delivers services, supplies and infrastructure identified within the $18 billion Iraqi Relief and Reconstruction Fund allocated by Congress.

Of those assessed, 274 class-two and -three schools were selected for renovation.

At one point 5,000 Iraqis were employed in the rebuilding efforts.  -- CenterViewCenterView



Thanks to the PRT's coordination, all three levels came up with a list of 10 schools to be built throughout the city, prioritized by need, to be voted on later in January.  The PRT is also setting up a conference among the levels of government to establish future procedures for building schools in Baghdad.

Despite sectarian violence and its effect on the country's politics, Gregoire said, his team has "not seen instances of sectarian criteria determining" the priority or placement of projects.

"You would be hard-pressed to look at where these projects are occurring, if you were to plot them on a map of Baghdad, and find any type of sectarian divider where things are actually being built," Ruch said, since everyone realizes the need to work together.  "You can't make one part of the city great and leave another part of the city alone."  There is an understanding that "everyone has got to get something out of this government or they're not going to succeed," he said. -- Provencial Reconstruction

On the desolate northern frontier of this city of 600,000, along a lonely strip of blacktop the U.S. troops call "California," a group of industrious Navy Seabees have helped local nomads stake a tiny claim on the future of Iraq.

The 25 U.S. sailors, most from Mississippi but a few from San Diego, have helped local men construct a six-classroom school for 250 very poor Iraqi children outside the city of Najaf, Iraq, about 100 miles southwest of Baghdad,

It will be the first school for this community of about 500 nomadic Bedouin tribesmen who said they settled in the desert near Najaf to escape the shifting dangers of the war. Bedouins are desert-dwelling nomadic tribes.

The troops said the modest brick structure is a dividend of several months of peace ---- an example of the kind of project Marines and sailors of the 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit have been able to accomplish under peaceful conditions in and around Shiite-dominated Najaf. -- NCTimes



Children in a village of Tamim province received school supplies, clothing and toys from the Nahrain Foundation, a nongovernmental organization that focuses on providing proper nutrition, decent clothing and medical supplies to Iraqi women and children. The foundation received its supplies as part of a joint effort between American donations and a coalition forces-run program known as "Operation Provide School Supplies," which accepts donations from private citizens and corporations in the United States.

More than 600 children will return to renovated or rebuilt schools in Maysan province when school starts this fall. This week, renovation on the Al-Eethnar Mud School was completed, and the Al Eethar Mud School was replaced at a cost of $87,000, benefiting 500 students who attend classes there.

Eight newly built schools in Wassit and Babil provinces are receiving new furniture before the start of the school year. Each of the school projects will receive office desks and chairs, file cabinets and new student desks. Collectively, 400 three-student desks will be proportionally divided among the schools, based upon the number of students. Defense Link

The lack of quality construction and limited building materials in the past led to a surplus of sub-standard "mud schools" in southern Iraq. Fortunately, the ongoing construction of Iraq's facili-ties and infrastructure by Iraqi and U.S. personnel has resulted in more than 800 schools being built or improved across Iraq, including new schools to replace those made of mud. Successful Collaborations Many of the primary and secondary school projects are built by local Iraqi contractors who have a vested interest inproviding quality schools to their own community. The use of Iraqi businesseskeeps overhead and security costs down, provides employment and training for local workers and boosts the local economy while improving education for local children. A typical mud and reed school found in many poor Iraqi villages. This newly built school has replaced the former mud school.Top: A group of local officials and Romanian and U.S. Soldiers attend the opening of a renovated school in Wasit Province.Bottom: Col. Roger Gerber from Gulf Region South meets with the Muthanna head-master.A typical mud structure that served as a school in Muthanna.-- Army Corps of Engineers

In 2003, approximately 6.1 million children were enrolled in Iraq's lower education system. Of these only about 2.96 million were expected to graduate from secondary school. Now, in 2006 nearly 25 percent of the Iraqi population either attends a school of, or is directly employed by, the Ministry of Education. With a 2006 budget of $1.9 million (up 66 percent from 2005), the ministry oversees more than 20,000 school sessions in over 14,731 school buildings, administrative offices, and educational facilities nationwide. The MoED provides the oversight and training needed to support 500,000 teachers in their work with 6.28-6.4 million K-12 students a 3-5 percent increase from 2003.

In 2003 there were 14,731 kindergarten, elementary, and secondary schools, most of which suffered from years of neglect by the Saddam regime, an insurgency intent on intimidating teachers and students, and the damage caused by war. Over the last three years nearly 6,000 of those schools have been renovated or undergone some form of rehabilitation.

In 2003, the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research (MHESR) consisted of 22 universities, 46 institutes or colleges within the Community College system, 2 commissions and 2 research centers. Since 2003, MHESR has, in addition to continuous work on its facilities and infrastructure that had been largely destroyed by war and looting, has been able to install nearly a dozen new colleges within its university system.

In addition, more than 2,500 schools have been rehabilitated and 45 new schools built. Educational supplies have been provided to more than 3 million Iraqi school children.-- National Review

[iplaw]

If anyone is interested in more positive news here are a few links, at least enough to keep you busy for a day or two.

Why I Serve  Short videos from soldiers that explain why they are in Iraq and what they are doing to make it a better place.

Joint Military Accomplishments  These are general discussions of military projects that were accomplished recently.  Follow the link from Operation Freedom.

Reconstruction Accomplishments  These are news letters put out discussing the civil projects that have been finished in Iraq recently.  Follow the link from The New Face of Iraq.

[Conan71]

IP- That's the issue.  There is so much of a dog-pile mentality on bad news, that it's hard to find positives.  No telling what other "good" stories were lost to history while the media agonized over the Anna Nicole saga for a month, and VT for a couple of weeks.  To that end, I give the media some credit for curtailing the VT story fairly quickly.

That's weird you have to go to Al-Jazeera to read about any progress in Iraq:

http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/CA9A5D38-31C2-4959-9849-70A071EB824C.htm

http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/CD68B12F-BA59-4867-A1C4-9BEA920683EB.htm

A negative story on the rebuilding effort was written by a reporter in Washington of all places...Hmmm.

http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/1E4E8B83-7748-4F84-A825-65651BD7C49B.htm

[NellieBly]

Good news from 2005 -- I feel so much better about the war on terror. Happy Days are here again and thanks for making my day.

[iplaw]

The schools were an immediate concern for the military, as were water treatment and restoration of electrical utilities. Sorry that we didn't wait until last year to build those things to make you feel better.

The links I provided in my second post contain hundreds of stories from last year and probably fifty or more from this year alone.  Frankly it's sad that you won't even bother to read and appreciate what our soldiers are doing over there.

[Conan71]

quote:Originally posted by NellieBly

Good news from 2005 -- I feel so much better about the war on terror. Happy Days are here again and thanks for making my day.

Care to comment on how the media does or doesn't seem to focus on negative issues instead of contributing more examples of that negativity?

Checking the headlines of AP and Reuters, two of the larger media networks in the world, murders, plane crashes, drunken celebs, and people out of work seem to dominate their coverage.

[NellieBly]

I guess this would be just like watching television. If you don't like what they are reporting on, don't read it, watch it, etc. Just keep watching Fox they report on all kinds of wonderfully happy news out of Iraq every day don't they. Bill O'Really can't even keep a straight face while reporting on all the happy school children each night -- Oh wait, he's too busy calling people names and crank calling women.

[Conan71]

quote:Originally posted by NellieBly

I guess this would be just like watching television. If you don't like what they are reporting on, don't read it, watch it, etc. Just keep watching Fox they report on all kinds of wonderfully happy news out of Iraq every day don't they. Bill O'Really can't even keep a straight face while reporting on all the happy school children each night -- Oh wait, he's too busy calling people names and crank calling women.

Just another predictable thread crap from the left.

Does it strike you the least bid odd that a creation of 88,000 jobs in April, after 130,000 in March is treated as some sort of bad news by the media?

It's pretty hard to avoid print media since it is everywhere you turn.

[cannon_fodder]

At full employment and with strange factors to consider (housing, immigration, war) I'm amazed the figure keeps being that strong.  I suppose the weak dollar is really helping exports and drawing foreign capital investment.