Oh, it's just because the negative news is what's news. A slight variation on "it's the negative news that sells," but makes the news people sound a little less venal.

It's news when the people of Iraq can speak freely and worship freely. It's news when schools teach what's real and not what Saddam wants them to know. It's news when our soldiers capture guerillas and seize huge arms caches. It's news when the electricity is more reliable in most of Iraq than when Saddam was ruling. It's news when neighboring Arab nations start loosening up their rigid rule over their people.

And you know what? We won the war. It's been seven months since we started it, and on an average daily basis, we've lost fewer soldiers to hostile action than in a single day of WWII. That's news too.

And of course, it's easy to change the news. Just "improve the situation." Why didn't I think of that? Maybe he should send a telegram to Bush with that advice.