As described in our October 18 Media Alert, ‘Democracy And Debate - Killing Iraq’ ( http://www.medialens.org/alerts/06/061018_democracy_and_debate.php ), a recent study published in The Lancet medical journal estimated that 655,000 Iraqi people have been killed as a result of the March 2003 US-UK invasion of Iraq.
The media coverage has been appalling - the words ‘Lancet’ and ‘Iraq’ have appeared in national UK newspaper articles some 30 times, with many of these mentions in passing. There has been no serious attempt to examine the Lancet’s figures, to explain how they compare to earlier findings from different studies. Anyone aspiring to understand the issue could do so only by visiting small, alternative websites, such as those run by Tim Lambert ( http://scienceblogs.com/deltoid/ ) and Stephen Soldz ( http://psychoanalystsopposewar.org/blog/2006/10/24/iraq-body-count-finds-a-task-worth-their-time/ ), and our own message board( http://www.medialens.org/board/ ).
To its credit, the BBC website has tried harder than most mainstream media to report the issue honestly. In particular, BBC world affairs correspondent Paul Reynolds - who has frequently engaged with Media Lens readers - responded to complaints by agreeing to invite questions from members of the public and to forward them to the authors of the Lancet report. On October 30, the BBC posted an edited version of answers from Les Roberts: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/talking_point/6099020.stm
Below, we are publishing Roberts’ unedited answers. We have also added Roberts’ response to an editorial by Steven Moore in the Wall Street Journal.
http://www.medialens.org/alerts/index.php
Please also see:
Iraq in turmoil
http://www.alertnet.org/db/crisisprofiles/571273.htm?v=at_a_glance
655,000 More Iraqis Killed Since Invasion
http://www.unobserver.com/index.php?pagina=layout4.php&id=2679&blz=1
IRAQ: U.S. Military Adopts Desperate Tactics
Dahr Jamail and Ali al-Fadhily
FALLUJAH - Increased violence is being countered by harsh new measures across the Sunni-dominated al-Anabar province west of Baghdad, residents say.
http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=35312
Government Death Squads Ravaging Baghdad
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=35159
The media coverage has been appalling - the words ‘Lancet’ and ‘Iraq’ have appeared in national UK newspaper articles some 30 times, with many of these mentions in passing. There has been no serious attempt to examine the Lancet’s figures, to explain how they compare to earlier findings from different studies. Anyone aspiring to understand the issue could do so only by visiting small, alternative websites, such as those run by Tim Lambert ( http://scienceblogs.com/deltoid/ ) and Stephen Soldz ( http://psychoanalystsopposewar.org/blog/2006/10/24/iraq-body-count-finds-a-task-worth-their-time/ ), and our own message board( http://www.medialens.org/board/ ).
To its credit, the BBC website has tried harder than most mainstream media to report the issue honestly. In particular, BBC world affairs correspondent Paul Reynolds - who has frequently engaged with Media Lens readers - responded to complaints by agreeing to invite questions from members of the public and to forward them to the authors of the Lancet report. On October 30, the BBC posted an edited version of answers from Les Roberts: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/talking_point/6099020.stm
Below, we are publishing Roberts’ unedited answers. We have also added Roberts’ response to an editorial by Steven Moore in the Wall Street Journal.
http://www.medialens.org/alerts/index.php
Please also see:
Iraq in turmoil
http://www.alertnet.org/db/crisisprofiles/571273.htm?v=at_a_glance
655,000 More Iraqis Killed Since Invasion
http://www.unobserver.com/index.php?pagina=layout4.php&id=2679&blz=1
IRAQ: U.S. Military Adopts Desperate Tactics
Dahr Jamail and Ali al-Fadhily
FALLUJAH - Increased violence is being countered by harsh new measures across the Sunni-dominated al-Anabar province west of Baghdad, residents say.
http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=35312
Government Death Squads Ravaging Baghdad
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=35159