But, of course. Goes without saying.
Several years ago I read a book called “The Institutional Imperative.” The gist was that any large organization has as its prime directive to perpetuate its own existence. That goes for a military-industrial complex, a church, a government agency, a newspaper, anything. Before the polio vaccine was created, there was an organization called The March of Dimes whose stated goal was to help those with infantile paralysis. After the vaccine made that goal largely irrelevant, the logical thing would have been for the M of D to say, “Well, that’s done! Let’s all go home!” But they didn’t. They just changed their focus to, I believe, birth defects. Not that this is a bad thing for them to have done, it’s just illustrative.
An analogy (I love analogies!): A doctor tells you that you need an operation. In one sense it’s in his best interests to tell you that, since he will make money as a result. That fact doesn’t necessarily mean he’s lying. But you may very well get a second opinion or check out his credentials.
So it is with journalism.
I find it difficult to argue much with the portrayal of the U.S. military as powerful, effective, and for the most part as humane as a fighting force can reasonably be expected to be. The Bradleys and the gunships and the MOAB are not imaginary. Our troops
are well-fed and well-trained. They do tend to not want to kill civilians, especially not unarmed women and children. They have given aid to wounded civilians and POWs. Walk on water? Saints in combat boots? Probably not 
The Iraqi military is less strong and less well-equipped. There is lots of independent evidence (including Iraqi t.v.) to suggest that they are less humane in their treatment of POWs, for example.
I haven’t seen news representing the average Iraqi combatant as some sort of malicious, grinning devil (as the Japanese were portrayed during WWII). Just for grins, take a gander at this portrayal of a “Nazi family” from James Lileks’s site. It’s from a Texaco ad! Modern media ain’t nuthin’ compared to WWII propaganda. Worked, too.