Short Stories, Long Odds

Or perhaps, what is and is not actually news. Or even, the halflife of news.

We’ve been inundated with the Pope for the last week. The Pope is still dead everytime I turn on my TV. I think airing his funeral was fine - he is, after all, an historic figure and as such deserves airtime - but the amount of coverage dedicated to the Pope in the last week created some serious problems.

For instance, this story ran on Sunday, April 3rd, and it gives details concerning an attack on Abu Ghraib by about 60 insurgents. At least 50 US soldiers were injured in the attack, that number up from the initially reported 20 and later updated to 44. Did you hear about this? You probably didn’t. It made page A-16 of the New York Times.

At the end of March 2005, the number of United States soldiers wounded in Iraq was 11,442. I don’t know how many of them lost limbs or eyes or will be broken for life, but war injuries tend to not be skinned knees.

Here’s an interesting accompanying fact for you - did you know that if you get wounded in action and cannot finish your tour of duty, if you received a signing bonus you have to pay it back? It enters repayment 30 days after you go home, and it shows up on your credit. I’m willing to bet this is also something you didn’t hear of.

Prince Charles got married today to Camilla Parker Bowles. He’s the man who might be King someday (if the monarchy lasts that long) so I understand why this would make the news. Maybe a 30-second segment with some shots of the ceremony. That’s fine. Hell, I’ll even give you a minute for it.

But I watched CNN, Fox News, and MSNBC in a rotation for three hours this morning, and I didn’t hear one word about the massive anti-American protest in Iraq. Nor did I hear about the CBS cameraman who was shot and then arrested by coalition forces.

You would think a story about a journalist getting shot and arrested in the midst of a conflict that the newspaper guild CWA and the American Federation of Radio and Television Artists purport carries an extremely high casualty rate for media personnel would make the news. They even said so in a letter to President Bush. It is, in fact, news about the news, and it doesn’t make the news.