I WAS INTRIGUED this morning when I got an email from Arthur Chrenkoff because the title was "Bad News from Iraq", considering he's the author of the superb "Good News from Iraq" roundup every couple of weeks. Has Arthur sullivanized?, I wondered. Then I clicked on the link and understood everything:

Being avid consumers of news, most of us are aware of the consistent stream of negative reporting coming out of Iraq. Death, violence, terrorism, precarious political situation, problems with reconstruction and public frustration (both in Iraq and America) dominate, if not overwhelm, the mainstream media coverage and commentary on Iraq. The readers' reactions to my fortnightly "Good news from Iraq" segments show just how little good news reaches people.

But it's one thing to have a gut feeling about media negativity and another to know exactly how negative the coverage is. So today I decided to do a little tally.

The figures speak for themselves; listen to them, and then this will be much clearer.