American's beheading old news for media elite

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Some news organizations have relegated the beheading of American contractor Nicholas Berg to a second-tier story behind repetitive accounts of Iraqi prisoner abuse.

Observers smell a rat -- and an agenda to undermine the Bush administration by showcasing abuse photos and perpetuating the outrage that has accompanied it in the past two weeks.

"What's shocking is that the beheading of an American is a one-day story. It was gone by Wednesday night. The press is trying to create more sympathy for the prisoners than Mr. Berg," said Tim Graham of the Media Research Center yesterday.

"Journalists are also looking for stories which fit a template -- the Vietnam quagmire template. And this prisoner-abuse story fits," he said.

Neal Boortz, radio talk-show host, agreed.

"Nick Berg has already disappeared from many front pages, but prison abuse stories remain," Mr. Boortz said. "Maybe it's just this simple: The prison abuse scandal can damage George Bush, the Nick Berg story can only help him."

The Washington Post, for example, ran two prison-abuse stories on the front page yesterday, plus three related stories elsewhere in the A-section. A single story on Mr. Berg was relegated to page A21.

The New York Times featured three prison-abuse stories on the front page, with a single story on Mr. Berg, which emphasized that "federal officials" failed to protect him. Three more prison-abuse stories ran elsewhere in the A-section.

The Times' apparent agenda did not escape the Boston Herald, which ran an editorial yesterday accusing the paper of "using its power to mislead."

"The New York Times, which has hawked story after story on the prison abuse scandal, saw fit [Tuesday] to run a single column on the upper-right front page about Berg's murder, while prominently featuring accusations of abuse by a former Afghan prisoner," the Herald said.