MEDIA 101:

Shaab blasts: What happened? (BBC, 27 March, 2003)

The world's media continues to focus on the controversial explosions which, according to the Iraqi authorities, caused the deaths of at least 14 civilians and injured 30 more in northern Baghdad on Wednesday.

But it is still not clear exactly what caused the blasts in a shopping street in the Shaab district.

The Iraqis say the coalition forces have been targeting civilians in their bombing.

The US - which says it is doing everything possible to avoid civilian casualties - has not admitted responsibility for the deaths.

Our correspondents in Baghdad who visited the scenes of devastation and spoke to eyewitnesses were unable to find an obvious military target in the area.

This is an interesting example of how the institutional demands and structures of the press tend to shape a story in unfortunate ways. There are really only two possibilities here: it was either Iraqi ordnance or ours. If it was ours it was accidental and this kind of collateral damage is inevitable even in a high-tech war. It would be appropriate for us to be sorry, but not ashamed. However, the media have now framed the story in such a way that were definitive proof to come to light that it was our missiles that caused the blasts it would be a "gotcha" moment, which would be wielded like a weapon itself and freighted with far more meaning than it deserves. We should have declared that "while there are some inconsitencies with what we now know, we are perfectly willing to assume for the sake of argument that it was ours and we take full responsibility". Then just play coy when the press asks about the inconsistencies and they'll go nuts trying to prove it wasn't ours. Posted by Orrin Judd at March 27, 2003 6:12 PM