Analyzing Mainstream Media ‘Spin’ on Mosul Airstrike Headlines

Earlier this month, a U.S.-led coalition in Iraq conducted an airstrike that killed hundreds of Iraqis. Iraqi officials and the U.S. watchdog organization Airwars state that numerous civilians were killed in the attack—something which U.S. military officials remain vague on answering.

The attack is one of the deadliest in the region since 2003, and some critics argue that mainstream media has done little to cover this significant military event.

“[L]eading news networks went out of their way to craft some of the most euphemistic headlines imaginable,” Ben Norton writes for Fairness and Accuracy In Reporting (FAIR). “If you read the headlines of major corporate media outlets, you’d think hundreds of Iraqi civilians coincidentally died in the same location that just so happened to be hit by a US airstrike.”

Norton analyzes numerous mainstream media headlines about the incident: ABC News, the Los Angeles Times, the New York Times and some foreign publications all used watered-down headlines.

“These latest whitewashed titles are remarkably reminiscent of those composed to cover (up) a previous high-profile US massacre of civilians,” Norton continues, noting that headlines are of extreme importance because its often the only piece of a report Americans read.

Norton continues:

Defenders of corporate media might argue that news outlets had to craft carefully worded headlines as the US government was still investigating the attack. But again, this simply reflects media’s deference to power. If the government says something, there are countless journalists waiting in line to obediently echo it. Corporate media have a long, tried-and-true history of acting as stenographers to power. …

The incredulity exhibited in the reports on the US attack in Mosul starkly contrasts with the dogmatic certitude reflected in the incessant barrage of thinly sourced stories on Syria, Russia, North Korea, Iran, Cuba, Venezuela, China and beyond.

This is how US media operate: Staunch skepticism is reserved for reports on the crimes of the US and its allies, whereas rumors and myths are reported as facts when they shine negatively on government enemies.

Read the entire piece here.

—Posted by Emma Niles

Related Entries

• March 29, 2017 An American Century of Carnage: Measuring Violence in a Single-Superpower World
• March 29, 2017 U.S. Admits Probable Role in Civilian Deaths in Mosul