Another Example of Media Bias

Yesterday Tony Blair, the Prime Minister of Britain, announced that he would be withdrawing 1,600 troops from southern Iraq by having them return home from their rotation and not replacing them. There are currently 7,100 British troops in Iraq, which is down from the over 40,000 troops that Britain had there at the beginning of the war. Denmark is also planning to remove its 460 troops from Iraq that are currently under the command of the British by August of this year. The Bush administration has said that this is merely an example of a success in Iraq, as the Iraqi security forces are going to take over control of the region.

A CNN article that came out yesterday showed the administration’s opinion of the situation, but it also showed the reaction of some members of the US Congress. CNN reported that Rep. Nancy Pelosi said that Blair's decision "confirms the doubts in the minds of the American people" about Bush's decision to increase U.S. forces in Iraq by more than 21,000. It also reported the reaction of House Minority Leader John Boehner, who said that this is “is one more sign that the new strategy to stabilize Baghdad deserves a chance to succeed.” The article also touched on Ted Kennedy’s reaction to the news, who called Prime Minister Blair’s decision “a stunning rejection of President Bush's high risk Iraq policy.”

On the other hand, a Fox News article that came out yesterday that was covering the same subject had an entirely different take on the subject. This article simply stated over and over again how this was a good sign and a model for what the coalition wants to do with the rest of the country. They used several quotes from Tony Blair to justify this point and said that the Iraqi Prime Minister had agreed to the pullout. There was only one line that touched on the possibility of this not being a positive event, which stated “Yet as more countries draw down or pull out, it could create a security vacuum if radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr stirs up trouble.” CNN may have a liberal bias, but at least it acknowledged all sides of the story and briefly explained each side. All Fox News did was give us a one sentence mention of the possible negative effect without even addressing the reaction of the US Congress, and it completely left out the possibility that Blair could simply be withdrawing the British troops because of the antiwar sentiment that is widespread in Britain (something that some Democrats in the US have proposed).

CNN article

Fox News article