Since discussion of media bias, etc., etc. has been done to death on the forums, I'm posting my rant here.

This week, the Oriental Institute has been priviledged (and I'm not being sarcastic) to host a visit by Donny George Youkhanna
(General Director for Research with the Iraq State Board of Antiquities, Baghdad) who is a very gracious and wonderful man. At a graduate student lunch Thursday, he and McGuire Gibson, our resident Mesopotamian archaeologist, along with some of the other faculty got onto the topic of media coverage of the looting of the main Iraqi Museum in Baghdad. What I found out was absolutely disgusting.
I am not sure how many of you followed the news coverage of the looting, but to summarize, first the media was screaming bloody murder along with all the rest of us about the immense quantities of materials looted or destroyed. A few weeks later, they were informing the public that hardly anything had been taken at all and that all of the so-called experts were liberal anti-war alarmists who hadn't the faintest idea what they were talking about and then the subject was relegated to the briefest of appearances on news tickers.
As it turns out, the media statement that hardly anything was taken comes from a conveniently edited interview with Donny George himself in which he stated (forgive me, but I can't quote exactly) something to the effect of: "Around 41 objects were taken from the galleries [of the Iraqi Museum, Baghdad]..." The sound byte was cut off there. What Donny George went on to say, however, was something to the effect of: "... many, many more objects, the number of which we are currently trying to establish, were taken from storage vaults in the Museum."
Bastards. What the media has also failed to point out is that the Iraqi Museum in Baghdad is only one of many Iraqi museums which house antiquities along with other objects of cultural value. There are several regional museums.
In addition, Nightline also apparently had fun with editing and spliced together several different interviews with McGuire Gibson to make him look like a completly moronic alarmist who claimed that "170,000 objects were stolen in the looting" when in fact it was only 41. Mac can't remember the exact context in which he said 170,000 objects, but he thinks it may have been a reference to his estimate of the contents of the vaults at the Iraqi Museum.
Rat fuckers.
Neither man is intending any lawsuits, etc - why bother? Besides, Donny George had enough trouble getting a visa this time around, God knows what will happen next time he wants to visit the US.