The Abu Ghraib Times

How obsessed has The New York Times been with Abu Ghraib? Between May 1 and May 27 the paper featured the prisoner abuse scandal on its front page virtually without letup and almost always above the fold.Like a dog with a favorite old bone, the Times just won’t let go (or at least even momentarily put aside) a story that, absent proper context and perspective, casts the U.S. in the harshest of lights.But when the Bush administration announced last week that it had evidence Al Qaeda is planning an attack on the U.S. in the next few months, the Times not only put the story way back on page A16, but reporters Richard W. Stevenson and Eric Lichtblau did everything except instruct readers in boldface to take the warning with a large grain of salt. (The story’s headline set the skeptical tone: “As Ashcroft Warns of Attack, Some Question Threat and Its Timing.”)

Getting back to Abu Ghraib, some of the best analysis of the Times’s handling of that and other Iraq-related stories can be found on Cori Dauber’s blog, RantingProfs. On May 26, an individual identified only as Media Hound did a superb public service of posting in the RantingProfs “comments” section all of the Times’s Abu Ghraib front-page headlines since May 1, along with hyperlinks. (The following day Media Hound added the Times’s headline of May 27).

To get a feel for how the Times has pounded away on Abu Ghraib, often at the expense of other stories at least equal in import, read this sampling while bearing in mind that these are just some of the Abu Ghraib stories the Times was running day in and day out throughout the month of May.

May 27 – “Prison Interrogation in Iraq Seen as Yielding Little Data on Rebels”

May 26 – “Abuse of Captives More Widespread, Says Army Survey”

May 24 – “Afghan Deaths Linked to Unit At Iraq Prison”

May 19 – “Officer Says Army Tried to Curb Red Cross Visits to Prison in Iraq”

May 18 – “MPs Received Orders to Strip Iraq Detainees”

May 16 – “Accused GIs Try To Shift Blame in Prison Abuse”

May 13 – “General Took Guantanamo Rules To Iraq for Handling of Prisoners”

May 13 – “Lawmakers View Images From Iraq – Members of Both Parties Are Shaken by Abuse”

May 12 – “Afghan Gives Own Account of US Abuse”

May 10 – “Brutal Images Buttress Anger of Ex-Prisoners”

May 9 – “In Abuse, A Portrayal of Ill-Prepared, Overwhelmed GIs”

May 7 – “From Picture of Pride to Symbol of Abuse”

May 7 – “President Sorry For Iraq Abuse; Backs Rumsfeld”

May 6 – “Bush on Arab TV, Denounces Abuse of Iraqi Prisoners”

May 6 – “Abuse Charges Bring Anguish In Unit?s Home”

May 6 – “Rumsfeld Chastised by President For His Handling of Iraq Scandal”

May 5 – “Iraqi Recounts Hours of Abuse by US Troops”

May 5 – “Army Discloses Criminal Inquiry on Prison Abuse”

May 4 – “Army Punishes 7 With Reprimands For Prison Abuse”

May 3 – “Report on Abuse Faults 2 Intelligence Officers”

May 2 – “Officer Suggests Iraqi Jail Abuse Was Encouraged – Report Details Assaults”

May 1 – “Bush Voices “Disgust” as Abuse of Iraqi Prisoners”