Independent Media in a Time of War

“U.S. deaths in Iraq, war on terror surpass 9/11 toll”. This was a headline used in 2006 by CNN while reporting on the growing amount of American soldiers killed in Iraq. 9/11 is doled as having taken 2973 lives, at the time of the report the soldier casualty had risen to 2974. Although the amount of soldiers lost in Iraq is a legitimate concern the report makes no mention of the amount of Afghan civilian causalities. Amy Goodman describes this concept in her film “Independent Media in a time of War”, where American military personnel are glorified in media, portrayed as being heroes or martyr like, and Afghan by-standard deaths are reported rarely if at all.

The aspect that I found most interesting is that the CNN article is able to name the first American casualty over-seas “The first U.S. service member to die in the Enduring Freedom campaign was Air Force Sgt. Evander Earl Andrew, 36, of Solon, Maine”. American press is quick to notice the first death of one of their own soldiers on foreign soil, however there are no reports by American media about the first Afghani soldier killed.

- Michael Griffith