Turbo talker Chris Matthews no doubt rattled some glasses inside the Beltway last week when he seemed to call out the press corps for turning its back on Iraq. A review of network news logs proves Matthews was dead-in in his assessment; coverage is way, way down this month. The civil war currently raging inside Iraq--it claimed nearly 7,000 civilian casualties in the last two months--begs for sustained, detailed coverage. Yet instead of racing towards that important story, the press appears to be turning away from it, just as nervous Republicans nationwide try to turn attention away from the chronic bloodshed in Iraq. To quote Matthews, "It [the war] has been taken off television, and Bush must love it."
What's so startling is we've seen this exact media retreat before--during the closing months of the 2004 campaign. Back then, when sustained, aggressive coverage of the unfolding chaos inside Iraq could have done real damage to the Bush/Cheney ticket, the press shifted its attention away from Baghdad.
Read the full Media Matters column here.
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