Three years ago, on April 1, 2003, one of the largest and highest profile Special Operations missions ever assembled lifted off. Composed of the best soldiers America has to offer, they were about to attempt a mission that hadn’t been successfully completed since World War II, the rescue of an American prisoner of war. Their mission, executed flawlessly, brought back a cute blond-haired Private First Class named Jessica Lynch. A book deal, made for TV movie, huge press junket, fame, and a plethora of medals, including a bronze star, made Jessica Lynch an “America hero.” Please.

Jessica Lynch was a media creation at a point during the war with Iraq when the majority of Americans supported the war. According to our great “hero,” she did not fire her weapon because it jammed, she panicked so much she forgot how to fix it, and she curled up into a ball and started praying in the middle of the ambush. That’s not heroism kids. But she’s attractive, she was all by herself, and the best and the baddest in the American military kicked in the door and rescued her. All of those attributes made her an easy target for the 24-hour news networks.

Sensationalism sells. The news media found a story with little Jessie Lynch that was worth her weight in gold. They covered every angle, real or imagined, and spun it to get the best ratings possible. The Army, bowing to media pressure and trying to garner positive press, jumped into the action and busted out the medals. The spin machine kept getting bigger and bigger until people started asking questions. Slowly the truth came out and the story, beaten to death with the truth lying broken and bleeding in the gutter, died out. Why talk about the other five people who were part of Jessica Lynch’s unit that were rescued by the Marines when you have an attractive, perky blond Larry Flint bought naked pictures of that’s also making headlines? What amazes me is the stories coming out of Iraq today don’t get the same scrutiny from the American public.ÿ

When you see news about Iraq or Afghanistan what do you read about? You read about death, destruction, violence and misery, with the occasional results of an election to keep it honest. Can you honestly tell me that there is nothing positive going on in Afghanistan or Iraq? The news today is almost always sensationally negative. There are positive things, but they don’t sell newspapers, commercials on CNN, or sponsorships for “The O’Reilly Factor.” Sensationalism does. ÿ

Are things perfect over there? No, and I’ll be the first to say that things could be much better. I’m not so naive, however, to believe these same organizations suddenly had a “come to Jesus” moment after the Jessica Lynch story and are now reporting with no spin, slant, or bias. Last time I checked, the New York Times, Washington Post, and cable news networks still need to sell to stay in business.ÿ

I’m by no means an expert. I’ll leave it to future historians to decide how much spin is being put on the day-to-day stories coming out of the war zones. But here on the three-year anniversary of our “great American hero” being rescued, I ask all of you to look at the news with the same critical eye the world used to look at her story. Ask yourself what else might be going on in Iraq, and its population of over 26 million, besides bombs going off. Next time you see an “expert” on CNN or Fox News, take a couple of seconds to check their credentials outside of what the network claims they are. Apply the same standards to the current string of doom and gloom reporting that was applied to the Jessica Lynch story.ÿ

Tom Amenta is a sophomore in LAS. His column appears on Mondays. He can be reached at [email protected].