Attacks in Baghdad have fallen up to 80 percent in the past twelve months, Reuters reported February 16. Deaths among Iraqi military forces and civilians have dropped by more than two-thirds, from more than 2,000 per month in early 2007 to fewer than 600 per month since November.

And U.S. military deaths have also declined, falling from 126 in May 2007 to 40 in January 2008 and just 29 so far in February, with two days left in the month. Yet this good news seems to have diminished the media elite’s interest in broadcasting any news from Iraq.

The typical defense for this kind of behavior from media types is the “Safe airplane landings aren’t news” line. But it seems to me that if Iraq is an important story while things look grim then Iraq is an important story when things look relatively bright.

Iraq has been the biggest news story of President Bush’s administration, but now that it seems as though we have a winning strategy in Iraq the media has decided it’s no longer worth covering.

That’s more than bias. That leaves mere “bias” in the dust on its way to outright, one-sided, unabashed propaganda.