John Tierney wrote a somewhat unintersting column for the New York Times suggesting that suicide bombings should not be reported by the media, and that the reason that we do report them is to satisfy people’s base interest in carnage. That column has provoked a number of interesting responses. Bruce Schneier’s disassembly of the argument is a must read. Scott Rosenberg takes on the argument as it is presented. My favorite response, though, is Eric Umansky’s note that on the same day Tierney’s column arguing against the excessive coverage of suicide bombings was published, the three suicide bombings from the previous day in Iraq got a one sentence mention in the New York Times and were not mentioned in the other major papers at all.