Like many soldiers and marines returning from Iraq, Mayer looks at the bleak portrayal of the war at home with perplexity - if not annoyance. It is a perception gap that has put the military and media at odds, as troops complain that the media care only about death tolls, while the media counter that their job is to look at the broader picture, not through the soda straw of troops' individual experiences.
I was going to thrash it, but then Instapundit did it before I could (darn him for being able to post during work hours!):
Except that for the most part, what we get from the Big Media is just a different (and utterly predictable and negative) soda-straw view.
Of course, I can still point out where the press points their straw:
--Cindy Sheehan.
--So-called plastic turkeys.
--Ellsberg (or any other tiny protest using tight focus).
--Phony Koran flushing.
--White Phosphorous.
--Abu Ghraib.
--Gitmo.
--The Palestine Hotel.
--507th Maintenance Battalion ambush.
--The latest car bomb that explodes within camera shot of their hotel balcony in the Green Zone.
I guess that broad picture perspective they claim means they know where to point and bend the story.
