POV

"Well, I always personally found [U.S. government briefings] valuable. I know many other people didn’t because if you looked at them in terms of objective truth, they weren’t very useful. But in terms of how the U.S. government wanted us to see things, they were quite useful. And it’s important to know what the government’s narrative is. Because in any conflict there are competing narratives, and our job, from my point of view, is to sort through them and provide a reality check on all of them." — Alissa Rubin, Los Angles Times

This by far is my favorite entry by a journalist in the Columbia Journalism Review's "Reign of the CPA" piece. All the other entries were things I've heard before or just understand (being a journalist-in-training and someone who pays a fair amount of attention to the news). Hearing that Coalition Provisional Authority officials refused to answer hard questions and seemed extremely disconnected to how things actually were in Iraq is no surprise.

But I like that Rubin took the press conferences and propagandized statements of the CPA not as frustrating governmental spin but as a challenge. The government has no reason to admit when things are bad, they have nothing to gain from a situation like that and everything to lose so it makes sense that they ... I don't want to say lie, but it makes sense that they would lie and deny things.

Rubin recognizes that this is a natural part of the situation and a vital part of her job as a good journalist. The other journalists quoted sound tired, frustrated and a little bit angry, but Rubin is taking the situation in stride and using it to her advantage. I like that, it's refreshing.