The Associated Press story is headlined–

“..Group continues police attacks”

The lede graphs say–

“A notorious [terrorist group] unleashed a second wave of attacks on police Sunday, bringing to 52 the number of people killed in the deadliest assault of its kind in the history of this countries largest state, authorities said.

Another 18 related prison rebellions also broke out Sunday, bringing the number of uprisings across the state to 36. Inmates were holding more than 120 people hostage. The state has a total of 144 prisons.”

The story continues–

“The press office of the state government said the PCC carried out at least 100 separate attacks since Friday that killed at least 35 police officers, the girlfriend of one of them, two passers-by and 14 suspected [terrorists].

Officers in bulletproof vests set up checkpoints to search vehicles, and barriers went up in front of many police stations to keep pedestrians and vehicles away. TV footage showed bullet-riddled police cars and shattered glass at one station.

Assailants also attacked patrol cars, bars where off-duty policemen gather, a courthouse and a highway police outpost on the outskirts of the city.”

What country is this Associated Press report about?  Not Iraq.  Brazil.

With a few omissions and edits, the story of crime in Brazil reads like it could have been Iraq.

But Brazil is not the only country where violent armed groups are rampant.  The Mexican city of Nuevo Laredo, just across the Texas border, has been the scene of a near running gun battle this year.

Another border town, Juarez, is emerging from the same blood bath.

But in most newspapers and on cable and network TV, the only violent place on earth is Iraq.

The press’ focus on violence in Iraq and lack of any global context gives the impression that Iraq is an anomaly–it is not.

There is a growing Maoist rebellion in India, an ongoing one in Nepal, and while the plight of Darfur has some celebrity publicity agents, much of Africa is embroiled in religious and ethnic violence.

But only the daily violence of Iraq gets any press.

It appears the ‘If it bleeds it leads’ theory of news only applies to bleeding in Iraq.

This entry was posted on Monday, May 15th, 2006 at 12:53 am and is filed under MSM. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.