WashPost Gives Royal Navy Hostage Story Just 51 Words On Day Four of Impasse

Today marks four days since Iran's Revolutionary Guard captured 15 British servicemen in what they claim are Iranian territorial waters. A similar incident in 2004 lasted just three days.

Yet the Washington Post, which has never hesitated to front-page negative developments in the war in Iraq, gave just 51 words on page A8 to the ongoing detention of 15 British servicemen.

By contrast, the March 27 New York Times devoted a full story to hostage-taking while the March 27 Los Angeles Times ran a 12-paragraph Reuters story on Iraq's government pressing the Iranians to release the captured sailors and Royal Marines. [continued...]

The Washington Post Web site did run an Associated Press article at 10:46 EDT today.

The AP story this morning centered on Iran's contention that its treating the British servicemen humanely.

The AP failed to explore when, if ever, the Iranians plan to allow the Red Cross to visit the detained sailors and marines. What's more, the reporter Nasser Karimi waited until the third-from-last paragraph to tell readers that Iran is refusing the detained servicemen access to British diplomats until after its "investigation" is concluded.