Saddam's just been executed, and of course all the news channels (especially FOX) want to show Iraqis celebrating - hooray, no more Saddam, thank you Americans!
But the only footage they can show is from Dearborn, Michigan. I was trying to figure out why, when presumably they've got tons of reporters and cameras down there- then I realized that it's probably because it's so damn unsafe there. Nice vote of confidence on our control on the ground, guys.
Man, Dearborn, MI- that's like showing tape from Williamsburg because you couldn't get any footage from Israel.
2 comments:
A fair point, only slightly undercut by the several hours of post-sunrise Baghdad footage consisting of reporters hunkering down and looking scared shitless as they listen to celebratory/vengeful/defensive/clusterfucking weapons fire.
"There's a lot of gunfire going on right now, and we don't know what it means. Maybe they're happy, maybe they're not. The important thing is we're staying inside."
Oh yeah, it's all under control.
And besides that, since when do expat reactions serve as any substitute for the real thing? How many interviews did you see with Ukrainian-Americans during the Orange Revolution? Or Lebanese-Americans during all the Lebanon shit? Not only is this demonstrative of how totally screwed up Iraq is (to the point that reporters that have been there for four years still aren't secure enough to get interviews/reactions with 'the man on the street' without worrying about whether he's going to kill them), it also shows just how lazy and inept the reporting is.
I mean, I guess we should be thankful that they at least bothered to look for a reaction to the actual event they were reporting on, but still.
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