At 4:00pm this afternoon, I took note of the lead stories for the following mainstream sites:

BBC News:
'Many dead' in Baghdad attack
At least 50 civilians die in an air raid on a suburban market, Iraqi officials say, as battles continue to rage throughout the country.

Reuters:
Iraqis Die in Baghdad Market
Iraqis said more than 50 people were killed on Friday in an air raid they said targeted a popular Baghdad market after the United States unleashed some of the heaviest air strikes of the war on the capital.

CNN - US Edition:
Rumsfeld warns Syria
U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld warns Syria that the U.S. considers military shipments to Iraq a "hostile act."

CNN - International Edition:
Iraq's Elite Troops Under Attack
U.S.: Heavy airstrikes mounted against Republican Guard.

You’ll note that the two CNN sites (really one American-owned site with two editions) focus on the active aggression of US forces while the two others focus on the receiving end of that force. Clearly, this was only a single, isolated example, and not a scientific sampling, but at least I think it’s emblematic of the way the war is covered differently on either side of the Atlantic. OK, so the Atlantic isn’t a good line of demarcation. Canada and Mexico are covering the war differently, too.

For example, I just went to the Sydney Morning Herald site right now – the first site I chose – almost exactly seven hours later and the headline is "55 killed in Baghdad market, says doctor," and the CNN International Headline is "Explosion rocks Kuwait City," referring to an incident in which nobody was killed or even hurt. Now, I realize the significance of that piece of news – the first time an Iraqi missile has successfully struck Kuwait, and I also need to point out that CNN does have a link to the Baghdad market story on it’s homepage. What I’m drawing attention to, however, is which stories the American media chooses to make prominent.

I wish I could’ve noted more sites at that particular time; perhaps I’ll repeat the experiment again with a larger sampling.

Also, tonight on CNN (TV), they’ve been endlessly showing footage of the damaged mall in Kuwait, and we’ve heard very little about the Baghdad market story. Where 50-60 civilians were killed. Whether coalition or Iraqi missiles killed these poor people – the Australian paper shows a photo of a young Iraqi boy sitting beside the body of his tiny brother in a coffin – their story deserves more attention from the American media.

I thought we were concerned about these people, trying to liberate them. In truth we’re apparently afraid even to depict their true conditions. CNN's Aaron Brown seems more fascinated with the mine-clearing dolphins than the plight of the Iraqi people. CNN in general seems more interested in gathering generals together in various arrangements to air their thoughts on "the battle plan."

At 11:10, the lead story on BBC News is still "'Many dead' in Baghdad blast." The article says many of the victims were children.