WHAT WE WEREN'T TOLD: Shell

WHAT WE WEREN’T TOLD: Shell of Across the Atlantic wants to know why the press hasn’t reported that Nicholas Berg was Jewish:

It doesn’t matter what the killers knew. They could put in the story, “Berg was Jewish, and it is uncertain whether his killers knew that.” Simple as that. No bias one way or the other.

To excuse the *media* for not knowing he was Jewish is ridiculous though. They’re reporters. It’s their job to find things out. How hard is it to find out someone’s religion? Obituary writers do it all the time.

The media’s theme for this story has been “revenge for Abu Graihb”. If they report that he was Jewish, then the theme might become “racists terrorists brutally murder Jewish American”. Is that the media’s motivation for not reporting something as important as someone’s religious identity?

I don’t know. And I’ll say that.

Questioning the media’s motivation is always a good thing. In a link-filled post titled, “Why The Big Media Continue To Lose Their Audience”, Glenn Reynolds writes, “big media leaders seem almost desperate to keep the story on Abu Ghraib” But on the Internet, “where users set the agenda, not Big Media editors and producers, it’s different”. And Nick Berg is the story, as well it should be.