You're right, Booklady...they use "independent" not to mean "unbiased" but to mean "not dependent on media conglomerate funding." They clearly have an agenda in posting the photo I linked above...

I watched the breathless coverage of the statue-toppling effort on CNN yesterday, and got tears in my eyes at the thought of all of these thousands of oppressed people hacking at the symbols of an evil regime. Paula Zahn and Christiane Amanpour (and some reporters on the scene) made it sound like this was an impromptu gathering of regular Iraqis, not a staged media event.

So I see the photo I linked to (http://docs.indymedia.org/twiki/bin/view/Global/ImcAllies) as an important balance to that. I was (personally!) swayed into feeling that regular Iraqi civilians were rising up with passion against Saddam (and I felt a strong emotional reaction, which media researchers will tell you is a way to make you more gullible--this is why "cliffhangers," references to sex, and big humorous moments happen right before commercials!).

Those spontaneous displays against the regime may have happened in places, but THIS particular (highly-publicized--don't you think the photo of Saddam tilted over the statue base will appear in MANY newspapers and magazines?) instance was not all it was made out to be on CNN.