"Ah, the power of those market forces"

"'Finally we feel security. It's better,' said a man who brought his daughter outside to see US soldiers" in Sadr City as the surge gathers steam," reports on-the-scene NBC Baghdad Correspondent Richard Engel, who tells visiting anchor Brian Williams that "US commanders aren't naive . . . They know the Mahdi army is playing possum, but US forces hope that if they can now impose some sort of security, the people of Sadr City will get used to it, like it and then won't welcome the militias back in."

"Ah, the power of those market forces . . ." comments Instapundit, who publishes an email from us (woo, hoo!) as an update to his posting of a photograph of the freshly embedded NBC golden boy Brian Williams -- sagging in the ratings of late -- who the blogosphere's own Ernie Pyle, Michael Yon, reports is "staying a few tents down from me."

Sissy Willis emails: "Surfing last night, I caught the tail end of a fascinating bit of the unwatchable O'Reilly Factor. They were showing clips of the Brian Williams report and saying NBC had been driven by market forces to send him over there to get something original. Won't it be grand if the bottom line forces the MSM to get the other half of the story?"

Check out the Professor's links to The Mudville Gazette and A Second Hand Conjecture for highlights of Williams' shock and awe that the surge seems to be working. From Monday's NBC Nightly News [via NewsBusters]:

“This is what the General heard today about how warmly the locals now view the Americans” . . .

Brian Williams, to one or more of the officers: “You just said, 'They don't want us to leave.' That's the tenth time today I've heard that. I've got to go back to the States and do a newscast that every night has another politician or 12 of them saying, 'We have got to get out of that godforsaken place.'”

Odierno: "They can talk about policy, okay, and that's what they have to do back there. My mission right now is to provide protection for the Iraqi people so this government can grow."

Trade gossip from AP:

NBC's Brian Williams arrived in Baghdad on Sunday, the first broadcast network anchor to head into the war zone since ABC's Bob Woodruff was seriously hurt by a roadside bomb more than a year ago. Williams said he wanted to see firsthand what was going on in Iraq after President Bush's decision to send in more troops and a "change in the tempo of the violence" . . .

The trip could be a boost for Williams and his Nightly News broadcast, which just lost the February ratings "sweeps" period to ABC's World News and Charles Gibson, NBC's first time out of first in a key ratings period since 2001.

Boutique journalism. It's all the rage as nervous old-media powers that be sense new media's wingéd chariot hurrying near. Maybe some of Michael Yon's brave new war journalism will brush off on Brian Williams?

Comments

[hnav]

wonderful post...

but if Mr. Williams misguided facade in covering Katrina is any evidence of his future potential, the Man will provide nothing but dishonest political manipulation.

Democrat Partisans are lying so often, so intensely, they no longer know the truth anymore.

And now they are running with Hillary and Bill again, with memories of "didn't inhale"...

Why do Democrats lie?

[Danger Girl]

Mike Yon has in fact rubbed off on Brian Williams, Brian has Mike's blog bookmarked and considering that Brian interviewed the CSM Jeff Mellinger, it's a good bet he reads Mikes blog often.

[John Ruberry]

I wonder how close Williams is to being replaced by Wheel of Fortune? To be fair to the MSM, they do game shows better than bloggers do.

[Tara]

Excellent post !!

Even hardline critic of the Iraq war, reporter / correspondent Michael Ware , is on board. He believes in giving the surge the time it needs to be implemented in its entirety.

http://newsbusters.org/blog/40

Ware also slaps down those investors of defeat, the Democrats, and their latest efforts to repeat the Vietnam War.

[Ruth Anne]

Can CBS's Katie Couric be far behind?