Look at how CNN's Barbara Starr initially reported the rape/torture story

[NNN0LHI]

http://news.ft.com/servlet/ContentServer?pagename=FT.com/StoryFT/FullStory&c=StoryFT&cid=1083180370612

Prison pictures paint a thousand words for voters

<snip>The US military command in Iraq said on January 16 that it was conducting a criminal investigation into allegations of abuse of Iraqi detainees. In its initial report on the matter, CNN said: "Some officials have suggested there are photographs documenting the abuse."

Barbara Starr, the television network's Pentagon correspondent, followed up with a report on January 21 in which she cited a Pentagon source saying that "US soldiers reportedly posed for photographs with partially unclothed Iraqi prisoners".

But those initial reports failed to spark much media interest. It was not until after April 28, when CBS News broadcast the now-infamous photos of mistreatment at the Abu Ghraib prison in Baghdad, that the story really took off. A report the following week in The New Yorker helped move the story and the pictures around the world, prompting renewed criticism of America's exercise of power and widespread calls for Mr Rumsfeld's resignation.

Several other factors, in addition to the availability of photographic evidence, helped propel the prison abuse story when it re-emerged in April. The CBS report was completed with the co-operation of a US Army reservist who was a guard at Abu Ghraib. In addition, popular sentiment in the US against the war in Iraq had increased, following a deadly month of fighting. And the Democratic presidential primary that had dominated the news in late January was complete.

more

[The_Casual_Observer]

1. popular sentiment in the US against the war

So I guess now it's safe for the media to report on what's wrong with the war. As long as popular sentiment is on their side, they don't have to worry about offending the majority and possibly interrupting their shopping habits.

[SemperEadem]

7. afraid of losing ad revenue

it costs money to be on TV

Look how much friends just fetched--and don't you think NBC is really happy right about now?

[The_Casual_Observer]

8. All media programming be it "news" or pure entertainment

must be viewed in terms of it's basic purpose. That being to get you to buy the products shown on the commercials that the "programming content" is sandwiched in between.

[mitchtv]

2. "partially unclothed"?

how about "buck naked"

[Jackpine Radical]

4. Well, they WERE wearing

hoods.

[jimshoes]

5. Well they were wearing hoods....

Those pugs can sure put lipstick on the pig.
Edit: Jackpine beat me to it.

[Randers]

3. It is amazing the power of photographs....n/t

[RC]

10. When you have half the country

who can't/won't read, it takes pictures to wake them up.

[KharmaTrain]

6. Interest How This Regime Burries Thei Trash

One can connect dots that say these assholes knew that someway, somehow the torture story would get out and here was a time and place to innoculate themselves.

Another example of this was the bullshit surrounding Junior's draft non-records that were part of a late Friday afternoon document dump...put it where and when no one will notice it.

Here, the Democratic primaries were the big story and the regime didn't mind that. They were busy fundraising for Bunnypant's big April blitz and putting out whatever bad news they needed to, as subtely as they could to cover their asses later.

Listen how often these days Rummy and other regime marshalls invoke "it was reported previously...". Here, my friends is how it's done!!

Great catch!

[doni_georgia]

9. Correct me if I'm wrong - help please

Didn't Bush* say that he didn't know about this abuse until last week? I thought I remembered reading that he learned about it about the same time the CBS story broke. Is my memory correct? Not being saracastic, seriously wanting to know, because if he did say this, it needs to be hit hard by the Dems.

Send Rush Packing
http://www.geocities.com/sendhimpacking/

[NNN0LHI]

11. Good old Barbara has been on a lot today doing damage control n/t