Originally published by YellowTimes.org NewsFromtheFront.org

CHICAGO (NFTF.org) -- The BBC has accused the U.S. media in its coverage of Iraq as losing its objectivity and instead pushing a "gung-ho patriotism" agenda. 

Greg Dyke, BBC director general, stated that the United States media has been mixing "patriotism and journalism," undermining the "credibility of the U.S. electronic news media."

Dyke explained that it was imperative that the British media not follow the example set by the United States, in which entertainment, patriotism and journalism have all been intermixed. Dyke said, "If Iraq proved anything, it was that the BBC cannot afford to mix patriotism and journalism." 

Dyke's comments were echoed by NBC News correspondent Ashleigh Banfield, who claimed that U.S. media coverage of the Iraq war "wasn't journalism." She stated, "You did not see where those bullets landed. You didn't see what happened when the mortars landed. A puff of smoke is not what a mortar looks like when it explodes, believe me." 

Due to her comments, NBC promptly reprimanded her. Banfield, who in the past has interviewed Palestinian martyrs in an attempt to understand their logic, was promptly called a "slut," a "porn star," and an "accessory to the murder of Jewish children" by NBC News talk-show host Michael Savage. 

Banfield argued that the reason the U.S. media is more interested in entertainment than journalism is due to the fear of losing "numbers." Banfield accused Fox News of setting the trend, by injecting mass doses of entertainment into news journalism: "Fox has taken so many viewers away from CNN and MSNBC because of their agenda and because of their target marketing of cable news viewers. I'm afraid there's not a really big place in cable for news." 

YellowTimes.org correspondent Erich Marquardt drafted this report.