This is a very good article on the nature of the filter that delivers the news to the American public.

New York Post Online Edition: postopinion: "You might think that an attack that killed 15 Americans and wounded hundreds more might inspire even the merest hint of anger on the part of those Americans whose job it is to write about it. Their articles might offer some perspective on how those seeking to kill Americans in Iraq are working for the restoration of one of the most barbaric regimes in world history. They'd ask the key question raised by such an attack: What is to be done to smoke out these barbarians?

"But that's not the central focus of the news coverage. Instead, the question that obsesses the media filters is: How much is this going to hurt George W. Bush?

"Both The New York Times and The Washington Post greeted the news of the attacks on the helicopter by framing the incident almost entirely in political terms. 'New Attack Intensifies Pressure on Bush' was the Post's headline. 'Public Doubt vs. Bush Vows' was the Times'."