Critics have accused the media of bias in the coverage of Lynch versus that of her fellow soldiers, Shoshana Johnson and Lori Piestewa. All three were ambushed in the same attack during the Iraq War on March 23, 2003, with Piestewa being killed and Lynch and Johnson being injured and taken prisoner.
Lynch, a young, blonde, white woman, received far more media coverage than Johnson with media critics suggesting that the media gave more attention to the woman with whom audiences supposedly more readily identify with.
Lynch says that she still gets hate mail from Americans who accuse her of making up the heroic acts attributed to her. "I was captured, but then I was OK and I didn't go down fighting. OK, so what?" she says. "It was really hard to convince people that I didn't have to do any of that.
Lynch, a young, blonde, white woman, received far more media coverage than Johnson with media critics suggesting that the media gave more attention to the woman with whom audiences supposedly more readily identify with.
Lynch says that she still gets hate mail from Americans who accuse her of making up the heroic acts attributed to her. "I was captured, but then I was OK and I didn't go down fighting. OK, so what?" she says. "It was really hard to convince people that I didn't have to do any of that.