SIGACT

There are lots of great post at photojournalist Michael Yon's blog, as he reports from Iraq.

This one explains how the reality on the ground gets mangled beyond all recognition by the time it reaches the wires and Yahoo News:

The media is an industry; but their business is not to report news. The industry needs a captive audience to beat the bottom line. The product is advertisement.

This is not a right or wrong. It's just a business concept for moving merchandise, and every profession or industry has one. Doctors, soldiers, preachers, lawyers, journalists: everyone needs to earn a living. Only a reclusive holy man might argue otherwise, but most holy men also expect alms.