Michael Yon and Michael Totten - The Anti Tokyo Rose.

In contrast to our own invested-in-defeat press, Michael Yon is a self-funded, independent reporter who gets out with the troops in the field and tells the story of what is going on in Iraq the way it really is. In other words, he gets out of the safety of the Green Zone and sees for himself whereas most of the western press, if they ever go to Iraq at all, report from the hotel and rely on stringers who may or may not be who they say they are and who frequently feed them false reports designed to undermine our cause and our will to see this through. In other words, they work for the enemy. Further, the press makes no effort to independently verify the claims they report, accepting them completely uncritically.

Like Michael Yon, Michael Totten is another independent and self-funded (read donor supported) reporter who covers Iraq and the Middle East and if you want a much better informed perspective on what is happening in Iraq and the wider Middle East, this is the go-to guy. You will not get this quality or depth of reporting from the New York Times, AP, Reuters, CNN or any of the mainstream press outlets that are more interested in the political damage they can inflict on George Bush than they are in the long-term survival of western civilization.

Update: Another example of AP and Reuters passing on unverified rumors as fact. [7/3]
Another update [7/3]: Michael Yon updates his Bless the Beasts and Children post, linked above.

"On this question of media selectivity, the blogosphere has become incensed that big media mostly ignored the murders, especially given that there are reporters currently in Baqubah. Newsbusters and countless others are on it. More disturbing to many bloggers is that major mainstream players were busted (again) by Pajamas Media
just days ago for reporting outright fabrications of a “massacre” that never
occurred."

Why the failure? "Because that might help Bush."