LATimes Downplays Iraq Vote

What the LA Times Ignored

Yesterday, Iraqis from around the Western US convened in OC to vote, less than 20 miles from the LATimes' Orange County bureau. The OC Register played it as its "In Depth" front page story, with the story continuing on -- get this -- pages two, three and four.

Almost utterly ignoring this momentus beginning to the tomorrow's incredibly significant vote, the LAT ran the story on the very last page of the first section. It sent a reporter to Skokie, Illinois and El Toro (whose report ran inexplicity at the very end of the coverage in what is, after all, a SoCal newspaper -- delusions of grandeur?) and even dialed up lazy old John Daniszewski in London to hustle up a quote.

Why bury the paper so deeply?

Simple. There were no negative quotes to be had at any of the venues. Why would the LAT ever give prominence to a story about Iraq with quotes like this?

"Muslim, Christian — it doesn't matter. We are all here to help each other. This is a good day for God, for Muhammad, for Jesus and Moses."

"I am born again. This is my birthday. This is the birth of the Iraqi state."

Note: My Inside-the-Beltway Liberal and retired journalist mom is visiting and we had an interesting discussion about this, focusing on the provincialism of the media. The OCRegister played up the OC Iraqi vote on page one but relegated the arraignment of MetroLink murderer Juan Manuel Alvarex to page 16. He is, after all from just up the road in LA County, where the crash occurred. And the LAT, which has tried and failed for years to become OC's newspaper, couldn't see the El Toro vote as an opportunity to be an Orange County newspaper.