On Stephen Spruiell's Media Blog at National Review - Marines: The Media Don't Show What America is Getting For Our Sacrifice.

Of particular concern was the way the 2,000th casualty overshadowed the passage of Iraq's constitution, which happened on the same day. One Marine just recently back from Iraq called the constitution "a major step toward us getting out of there," yet noted that the media coverage of the event had been astonishingly shallow. One fellow panelist, a producer for CBS News*, said that the 2,000th casualty was a very important story because it was important to know that these were our brothers and fathers that were sacrificing in Iraq. The room sort of exploded with hands in the air and marines arguing that the 2,000th casualty was a meaningless statistic and no different that the 1,999th or the first. Moreover, they argued that the bigger problem was the lack of balance — the good news was not reported with the bad. The CBS News producer agreed, but he and an NBC producer also argued, using an old standby, that it's not news if a plane lands at Kennedy airport safely — only if it crashes...