Blogoland

Really, now, I have read Arthur Chrenkoff's blog and WindsOfChange, and all these other blogs that the right wing of the blogosphere tells me are reporting all the "good news" from Iraq that just isn't getting reported by that evil mainstream press. Of course, the only problem is that it HAS been reported by the press most of the time. So what's the beef? Here's the finesse by Jeff Jacoby:

The ‘‘good news’’ format was straightforward. It briefly described the latest positive developments and linked to a source providing more complete information. Typically these were published news stories, but they could also be government releases, military reports, industry Web pages, opinion polls, or accounts by Iraqi civilians.

See? The problem is the press reported on the good news, but didn't package it in a way that pleases the Right Wing. Ergo, the press are traitors:

‘‘The war on terrorism and the effort to bring democratic reform to the Middle East is the most important enterprise in which America is involved,’’ says James Taranto, the editor of OpinionJournal.com, who early on recognized the importance of Chrenkoff’s work. ‘‘But you don’t get the sense that the mainstream media appreciate this. You get the sense that they’re rooting for America to lose — or at least that they wouldn’t be upset if America lost.’’

Right. By reporting the good news that Taranto and Chrenkoff link to and highlight, the press is rooting for us to fail. Can't argue with that logic.

A side note. Just what kind of freedom-loving, First Amendment-embracing employer has Chrenkoff signed up with that stops him from publishing his blog?

Last week, Chrenkoff posted ‘‘Good news from Iraq, Part 35.’’ It was 44 inspiring pages long — and the last of the series. (He has accepted a position with an employer whose rules won’t permit him to keep blogging.)