The C-Word

This morning's Studio Briefing (check it out over at the IMDB) covers the response by CBS corespondent Lara Logan (who bears close resemblance to Nicole Kidman, complete with sexy Aussie accent) to BushCo's drumbeat of the last week that the media are at fault for not presenting good news about Iraq to the American people, and thusly making them depressed at all the shit that seems to be going down.

CBS correspondent Lara Logan reacted angrily over the weekend to comments by President Bush and Vice President Cheney that the news media are not reporting on progress on the rebuilding of Iraq and are focusing on violence there instead. Interviewed in Baghdad for the CNN program Reliable Sources, Logan said, "I really resent the fact that people say that we're not reflecting the true picture here. That's totally unfair and it's really unfounded." She said that it is generally difficult to report on reconstruction because reporters are hamstrung by the increasingly difficult security situation preventing them from moving about the country. Indeed, Logan indicated that reporters like herself have exercised restraint in reporting negative stories about the conduct of U.S. military personnel. "If you had any idea of the number of Iraqis that come to us with stories of abuses of U.S. soldiers and you look at my coverage over the last few weeks, or even over the last three years, there's been maybe two or three stories that have related to that." Besides, she said, she has been under increasing pressure from CBS editors to show more positive stories, but when she asks the U.S. embassy in Baghdad to allow her to film them, she has been turned down in almost every instance because "security dominates every single thing that happens in this country."

Check out the video (along with some transcription) over at Crooks and Liars. Logan's pissed off and she brings in the dastardly C-word--context--which is sure to burn the ears of any BushCo minion watching the segment.

...you have to first start with the security issue. When journalists are free to move around this country, then they will be free to report on everything that's going on. But as long as you are a prisoner of the terrible security situation here, that's going to be reflected in your coverage. And not only that, but their own figures show that the reconstruction project was supposed to create 1.5 million Iraqi jobs. To date, 77,000 Iraqi government jobs have been created. That should give you an indication of how far along they are in terms of reconstruction. We have to put everything in its context. We can't go to one small unit and say, "Oh, they did a great job in this village and ignore all the other villages that haven't seen any improvement in their conditions.