Opinion: The Iraq “Civil War”…
Editor and Publisher’s Anna Crane writes about the decision by NBC News to call the unrest in Iraq a Civil War. (via Romenesko)
In a bombshell, however, Matt Lauer on the Today show this morning revealed that NBC had studied and perhaps debated the issue anew, and then decided that it will now use “civil war” freely. “For months the White House rejected claims that the situation in Iraq has deteriorated into civil war,” he said. “For the most part news organizations like NBC hesitated to characterize it as such. After careful consideration, NBC News has decided the change in terminology is warranted and what is going on in Iraq can now be characterized as civil war.”
MSNBC, for its part, has been playing up this story all day long. MSNBC is treating it like the NBC decision to call it a Civil War is itself a story, which I suppose to a certain extent is true, sort of the way Walter Cronkite’s declaration on Vietnam was a watershed moment in that conflict. But the way it’s coming across is leaving me with a disquieting feeling that I’m witnessing something that is part PR, part marketing, and part news, when ideally it should be all about the news.
There may be no good way for MSNBC or NBC to go about covering this particular story without coming across as somewhat self-centered/inward looking in how it describes what led it to this decision and its significance. But, I’m not sure that what I’ve seen so far was the best alternative available.
NBC/MSNBC has been absolutely shameful today. A real news organization would have just quietly debated the term, made a decision and moved on. They wouldn’t have inserted themselves into the story like was done today.
A real question would be how many minutes they devoted to the faux story of them calling it a civil war compared to how many minutes they actually spent on reports about the civil war from Iraq.
Comment by Steve — November 27, 2006 @ 4:08 pm
Steve, where are you when FOX inserts itself into stories?
Comment by ? — November 27, 2006 @ 7:48 pm
Last Friday on Good Day L.A. Chris Wallace of Fox News Sunday doing a promo chat for his Sunday show said that there was no other way to describe the situation in Iraq but to admit it’s a Civil War. He was the first news person I heard to come out and say it so directly.
Comment by Renee — November 27, 2006 @ 7:58 pm
Renee, CNN’s Michael Ware has been calling the ’situation’ a civil war for weeks now.
Comment by Arthur — November 27, 2006 @ 8:48 pm
Steve is exactly right. The story on MSNBC all day has been “NBC’s decision,” not the war. Where you draw the line is just not a compelling story. This should be confusing to Americans as our “Civil War” had nothing to do with (1)ethnic cleansing, (2)pitting race against race, or (3)pitting religion against religion.
Comment by erljr — November 28, 2006 @ 12:58 am
Can anyone else hear the lefties chanting “When Johnny Comes Marching Home Again, Hurrah, Hurrah!” off in the distance. I do, but they are singing it in French. Rhetorically I ask…”What’s that all about?
Comment by Roger C. — November 28, 2006 @ 11:02 am
Maybe with all of the cutbacks at 30 Rock, the MSNBC trucks couldn’t be repaired and the crews had to look within walking distance for a story?
Either way, I agree that the process of describing the situation in Iraq isn’t newsworthy, the events on the ground are. NBC/MSNBC needs to end the self promotion and cover the news.
Comment by Buck — November 28, 2006 @ 5:17 pm