Blurred Issues: the trickle down effect.

1st example: In the recent controversy over mistreatment of prisoners at Abu Graib the BBC initially used the word 'torture' in their main report to describe what was allegedly going on there under US juristiction (even now, a minor article still uses the word torture unquotemarked). This set the tone for much of the British media. As usual the BBC did not retract their initial headline even when it was reconsidered, so although they changed it to one of 'abuse' it provided moral and legal cover for a number of media outlets to run the same line- permanently in some cases. The BBC obviously changed it because they could not respectably justify it from the anecdotal evidence- but then why the initial headline?

The blurring between an accusation of misconduct (which has already been acted upon with suspensions etc) and one of criminality (which is unproven as of yet) opened up a range of negative lines of reporting which led to papers such as the Daily Mirror making hay with accusations of systemic abuse and torture, introducing 'new items' like the pictures of UK soldiers maltreating Iraqi prisoners (actually, dodgy old pics allegedly stored since last August). Meanwhile, papers like the Sunday Telegraph said that 'our' soldiers will 'Pay in Blood' for the abuses. Wherever you turned in the newsagent it seemed that the media was united in the conviction that we were indistinguishable from Saddam's henchmen, either because we were or because the consequences would be as though we were.

Two problems arise. One is the morale-sapping effect that unfair criticism creates in the armed forces. The other is the potential enemy response, whether seeking revenge or propaganda, in Iraq and elsewhere. In both cases the BBC is in grave danger of playing with lives when it helps shape a slanted media agenda that is picked up by our voracious and amoral press. If the BBC can't regulate its responses better, it would be better if all the press felt under some moral pressure, rather than relying on our British Broadcasting Corporation to do the dull but worthy. (Interestingly, as though anticipating this criticism, the BBC has run an article criticising the US media for ignoring the abuse story. When faced with accusations of bias last autumn, Greg Dyke attacked 'flag-waving' US media using the same tactic.)

2nd example: The quagmire... again. The BBCOnline headline 'Fallujah Confusion as Toll Mounts' blurs two issues (which cannot be fully separated with subsequent reporting). One is the altering US tactics over the flashpoint of Fallujah. The other is US casualties. This distinction is important because the perception of many, including some Iraqis, is that the US is being driven out of Fallujah, and it is natural to assume that the casualties talked of relate to Fallujah. In fact they do not (eight of them relate to one incident where two mortars were fired at a camp two hours' drive west from Fallujah), and very few casualties have been suffered in Fallujah, considering the situation there.

It is crucial that people realise (both here, abroad and in Iraq) that the US is not being forced out of Fallujah by rising casualties, because that could lead to even more casualties as the rebels see a strategy that works for them. It could also lead to friendly countries considering withdrawal if they come to believe they might also suffer such casualties if they do not draw a line or pull out their troops (the BBC is already on this case- 'Should British Troops get involved in the Fallujah quagmire?'). 'Rising casualties' (a phrase that begs the question, 'rising since when?') and totemic stories like 'Fallujah' shouldn't be associated by journalists unless they are really linked. It would be more sensible to indicate that while US forces are concentrating on places like Fallujah, the jihadis are taking advantage of the distraction- something that also happened after Al Sadr's rebellion.