Burying the Lancet -- How the Media Cover Up Civilian Deaths
As a result of the US invasion of Iraq, 100,000 civilians have died, according to a survey conducted by researchers at Johns Hopkins, Columbia, and Al-Mustansiriya Universities and published in the British medical journal the Lancet in November, 2004.
Even though this report used standard survey techniques, took measures to err on the side of conservatism, and was conducted by the same group that conducted a widely accepted study of deaths in Congo from war and famine, the figure of 100,000 civilian deaths has been roundly criticized by US/UK government officials and as a consequence mostly ignored by reporters.
This in-depth report by the British media analysis group MediaLens examines criticism of the Lancet study in the media and by government officials and determines that the criticism rests largely on innuendo, without any real arguments to back it up. MediaLens shows how the media have completely different standards with which to judge "safe" and "dangerous" stories.
There's more...
As one of the authors of the Lancet report (Les Roberts of the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health) puts it,
It is odd that the logic of epidemiology embraced by the press every day regarding new drugs or health risks somehow changes when the mechanism of death is their armed forces.
MediaLens's conclusion --
The difference in media performance is clearly explained by the stance of power - the establishment on which the media system depends and of which it is a part. Indeed it is hard to imagine a more striking example of how the mass media act as a propaganda system for these interests.
-- is borne out by example upon example. MediaLens provides an excellent case study demonstrating modern-day corporate media's subservience to the governments under which they function.