The Most Yost

Saint Paul at Fraters does the essential followup on the Mark Yost flap from two weeks ago.

As you may recall, Mark Yost wrote a column in the PiPress a few weeks ago that shredded the media's myopia on the Iraq war. A series of fundamentalist journalist responded with the sort of unsoundably deep ire that people seem to reserve for apostates, for people who don't close up ranks with the pallid, newsprint-stained line.

In particular, they said, Yost's critique was a slap at Knight-Ridder's Hannah Allam, the chain's Baghdad correspondent (Knight-Ridder owns the Pioneer Press). One commenter with a background in journalism, noting my social acquaintance with Yost (which is factual)

"Close ranks", in essense, was the message.

Brian does what a lot of people should have done in the days following the rhubarb; digs up some Hannah Allam ledes - go read 'em - and then:

You starting to pick up a bit of a plot line here? The implacable and daring insurgents, the overwhelmed and vulnerable and frightened security forces, all fighting under the cover of corrupt and incompetent American supervision. A tidy little tale, one that, if accepted, might lead to the eroding of public support for the war, a withdrawal of American troops, and ultimately dire political consequences for the Bush administration. With stakes this high, one can see why so many reporters are true believers of the story. And why they are so desperate to shout down those voices (Yost, the US troops) trying to tell the other side of the story.

Read the whole thing.

Posted by Mitch at July 29, 2005 12:34 PM | TrackBack