As
a rule, U.S. war reporting since Vietnam has been mostly mainstream
media cheer leading the mission rather than digging beyond government
war propaganda. After
all, it was images of American boys coming home in body bags shown on
the six o’clock news across America that finally galvanized mainstream
opposition to that war.
The
Pentagon learned its lesson by the first Gulf War, and it severely
restricted up-close media coverage. Only “trusted” journalists were able
to report from the front lines. Most of the press corps wrote up
stories based on U.S. military press releases from luxury hotels in
Baghdad.
By
the time of Gulf War II the Pentagon came up with the concept of
“embedding” select journalists with the troops. This allowed the story
to be framed by the Pentagon with the false impression that actual
journalism was taking place.
It
felt authentic, because the journalist was with the troops and close to
the action, but the story presented what the Pentagon wanted to be
presented. This is perhaps a long way of pointing out that U.S.
mainstream media coverage of the war in Ukraine leaves a lot to be
desired.
Yes,
sometimes the truth does slip out in publications like the New York
Times, which reported last week that in just the first weeks of
Ukraine’s “counter-offensive” at least 20 percent of the weaponry and
equipment donated by the U.S. and NATO has been destroyed.
However,
usually what the mainstream media serves up are Pentagon and neocon
talking points. Russia is losing, they report. Russia has already lost,
as Biden said recently.
Most Americans don’t go out of their way to listen to actual experts like Col. Doug Macgregor, who from the beginning has been telling a very different story. Thus Americans continue to be fed propaganda.