They no longer have to try to create "buzz" to move a clip into the mainstream press: they are now the press's primary source of news footage when it comes to the vital issue of attacks on American military personnel in Iraq. All they have to do is make the material available.
Consider again the sniper tapes aired by CNN. While they made for particularly powerful propaganda material because of the strength of the visceral emotional reaction they inevitably evoked, they presented a distorted view of the threat faced by American troops. The numbers tell the tale: as of mid-February 2007, sniper fire had accounted for 1.3 percent of all American deaths in Iraq, the least likely cause of hostile fire responsible for a combat death and less likely to kill American service members than nonhostile weapons discharge. Since the start of the war, 41 Americans had been killed by sniper fire compared to 1,134 killed by IEDs, the single greatest risk to American military personnel and responsible for 36.3 percent of all American military deaths in Iraq.[1]
Lara Logan, CBS's senior correspondent in Baghdad at the time, argues that the practice of using terrorist and insurgent footage is a legitimate one for several reasons. First and foremost, she argues that since there is no other way this footage could have been acquired, people would simply assume the source although she is very clear that she is always very specific with viewers as to what the source is. She believes the audience would make this assumption in part because of the difference in quality—network professionals do not produce grainy black and white footage.[2] Without empirical research, there is no way to answer the
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- ↑ The source for these figures is the data base, "Iraq Coalition Casualty Count," generally considered to be accurate and trustworthy. "Fatalities by Cause of Death Detail," available from icasualties.org/oif/stats.aspx.
- ↑ Lara Logan, Interview with the author by phone from Baghdad, January 14, 2007.
