Here was her email response to me is at that link above:
Robin Wright's response:You can see my response to her at the links above.Ms. Duclos -
Thanks for your comments. The point I was trying to make on CNN is that two months do not make a permanent trend. As Gen. Odierno said last week, when he came to the Post, the numbers have been good the last couple of months but the US military has not yet reached the point of "irreversible momentum." When they do, it will certainly mean a different kind of reporting about the war in general. Unfortunately, all it will take is one or two really bad incidents and the numbers will start going up again. The numbers aren't the whole story either. The progress in Anbar has been widely covered in the US media -- and that in many ways tells us far more about both the war and the future than the death tolls.
I also think we're all a little nervous about declaring victories before we're fully confident that they represent a long-term and enduring trend and are not just a favorable blip on the screen.
With regards,
Robin Wright
Diplomatic Correspondent
The Washington Post
Telephone: 202 334-7443
Email: wrightr@washpost.com
Fax: 202 496-3883
Now, I never mentioned "victory" in my original email to her, via her contact form", yet her claim that before she can report "differently" [good news from Iraq] depends on them reaching of "irreversible momentum" show her incredible bias as well as her complete ignorance of the Codes of Ethics journalists are supposed to use as their guidelines.
This is what is called reporting now folks.... is it any wonder that the new media is often getting the "scoops" on the dinosaur media?
[...]
What are you folks waiting for... weigh in using her contact form and let her know whether waiting for the "irreversible momentum" is a good excuse for hiding the good news coming from Iraq, from you!
Now for the Gallup Poll released today, on media:
Republicans in America today remain deeply distrustful of the national news media -- in sharp contrast to Democrats, who have a great deal more trust in the media's accuracy. Overall, less than half of Americans, regardless of partisanship, have a great deal or a fair amount of trust in the mass media. Nearly half of Americans -- including over three-quarters of Republicans -- perceive the media as too liberal while fewer than one in five say the media are too conservative. Americans are less likely to perceive bias in their local news media than in the national news media.
Basic Trust in the Accuracy of the News Media
Gallup's annual Governance poll, updated Sept. 14-16, 2007, uncovered high levels of distrust today on the part of Americans about most aspects of their government, and found a continuation of the high level of dissatisfaction with the way things are going in the country seen for the past two years.
Given this generally negative environment, it is not surprising to find that Americans also give the mass media low trust and confidence ratings.
The Governance survey shows that only 9% of Americans say they have a great deal of trust and confidence in the mass media to report the news "fully, accurately, and fairly," while another 38% say they have a "fair amount" of trust in the media to do this.
[...]Bias in the Media
One reason for this general distrust of the media is the fact that only about a third of Americans today say that the news media are "just about right" when it comes to ideological balance. More than twice as many Americans say the news media are too liberal (45%) rather than too conservative (18%).
This is not a new phenomenon. The tendency on the part of Americans to perceive the news media as too liberal has been observed in each Gallup survey in which this question has been asked since 2001.
I do not think anybody needs a poll to tell us how biased the media is, but considering we just heard it from the horses mouth (Wright and Starr), they certainly proved the Gallup poll correct.
Go see the rest of the poll results.
What perfect timing for Gallup to release this poll.
Don Surber reminds us of a report we saw recently about media members and what political party they make donations to:
Remember the story by Bill Dedman of MSNBC on campaign donations by media employees? Of 143 who kicked in money to politicians, 125 gave exclusively to Democrats while only 16 gave exclusively to Republicans. The other 2 gave to both.
Read the rest of Surber's piece, he shows you what those news organizations are doing to clamp down on that.
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