Organic Mutant

From Fox “News”:

‘Wars Are Won on the Offensive’

PORTSMOUTH, N.H. � The United States and its coalition partners are getting Iraq back on its feet, thanks to the help of thousands of military reservists and National Guardsmen, President Bush said Thursday.

“You’re serving in a time of testing for this nation and we’re meeting the tests of history,” Bush told a rousing crowd of guardsmen and their families in New Hampshire. “The challenges we face today cannot be met with timid actions or bitter words.”

Noting that “we live in an era of new threats,” the president said part-time military volunteers are playing vital roles in homeland security missions such as guarding terror suspects at Guantanamo Bay.

“Citizen soldiers are serving on every front of the war on terror and they’re making their state and your country proud,” Bush said.

Campaigning to counter rising criticism about Iraq, Bush praised postwar developments there and thanked military reservists — normally accustomed to weekend training missions but now straining under long overseas deployments.

“Serving your country can bring sacrifice and uncertainly and separation. Your lives can be changed in a moment with the call to duty. I want to thank you for your willingness to heed that important call,” he said.

Bush and his aides have recently complained that most news outlets have been filtering out all the good news coming out of Iraq and instead focusing mainly on security problems and U.S. casualties.

(etc)

From New York Times:

Bush Emphasizes Iraq Progress and Continuing Terror Threat

By DAVID STOUT -Published: October 9, 2003

WASHINGTON, Oct. 9 � Visiting the only Northeastern state he carried in 2000, President Bush campaigned today in New Hampshire, calling for lower federal taxes and continued vigilance against terrorism.

“Sept. 11, 2001, moved our country to grief and moved our country to action,” he told a cheering audience in Manchester. “We made a pledge that day, and we have kept it. We will bring the guilty to justice. We will take the fight to the enemy.”

Speaking to a group that included many members of the National Guard and Reserves, Mr. Bush once again thematically linked the fight against terrorism with the war to oust Saddam Hussein.

“We have fought the war on terror in Iraq,” Mr. Bush said. “The regime of Saddam Hussein possessed and used weapons of mass destruction, sponsored terrorist groups and inflicted terror on its own people.”

The president also defended his decision to wage war pre-emptively. “We’re not waiting for further attacks,” Mr. Bush said. “We’re striking our enemies before they can strike us again.” At another point, Mr. Bush said: “The choice was up to the dictator, and he chose poorly. I acted because I was not about to leave the security of the American people in the hands of a madman.

(etc)

In the Fox “news” article, the majority of the article text in the first 7 (!) paragraphs are direct quotes - including the headline and the entire opening paragraph, with a credit only after the reader has read the lead. It is a confusing techinique, and one that the Administration must surely appreciate, since it operates as little more than a bullhorn for their political rhetoric.

Compare it to the New York Times article, where the report offers background, historical and political context, and a brief summary of his entire message before offering a direct quote. The article makes it clear to the reader what they are reading - whether analysis or quote.

Furthermore, at Foxnews.com, this was their main lead story, while all other mainstream media news websites had the terrorist attacks in Iraq [10 dead] as their lead stories. Fair and Balanced? Hardly.

Not that you didn’t know this…