SPIN WATCH

Hey - someone is watching this stuff closer than I am.

Just ran across the web site www.RatherBiased.com

What do you know - CBS Evening News runs 8 negative reports about Iraq for each 1 positive story.

During the postwar "winning the peace" period of rebuilding in Iraq, CBS News has focused heavily on negative events in the country ignored or neglected positive news.

According to a study conducted by RatherBiased.com of news reports during four months from Bush's May 1 speech declaring an end to major operations in Iraq to Sept. 9 (130 days of occupation), the CBS Evening News ran 100 more negative stories than positive stories about events in Iraq. Out of 183 total stories, 132 were negative, 34 were positive, and 17 were neutral. A typical month is August, where negative stories outnumbered positive stories 40 to 5...

On May 22, Dan Rather introduced another story on the latest attack on American troops in Iraq: "As CBS's David Hawkins reports, it was a close call for the American soldiers involved."

Hawkins began his piece: "If the goal of the attackers was to kill U.S. soldiers, they failed. But if their purpose was to provoke an American reaction and further inflame tensions here, they've succeeded."

But the attackers achieved even more. Hawkins could have said, more accurately, "If their purpose was to get on the American evening news programs and create an illusion of chaos for the viewers, they've succeeded."

Now ain't that just a kick in the pants...