As if to underscore my statement that the popular media loves to dwell on the negative rather than highlight the positive (and this by no means is limited to Iraq, but all news in general), the media is currently having a feeding frenzy over the fact that the death toll of American troops in Iraq has passed another meaningless milestone.
How exactly is this news? Where are the reports on the number of books and school supplies handed out to schools in Iraq? Where are the reports on the number of provinces in Iraq which are relatively violence-free versus those which still pose a security risk?
Sorry, you’ll have a hard time finding news on such topics because the major news outlets will put sensationalist stories first and foremost time after time. I’m not saying that the death toll in Iraq isn’t significant, but this statistic doesn’t come close to painting an accurate picture of Iraq as a whole.