SEALS 3, Pirates 0

[kato13]

In general the media will only blame those who they can change out of embarrassment or by swaying the public to demand change within an institution.

Therefore they had two options in the French situation. Blame the people on the boat or blame the armed forces. Given how I read the biases of bulk of the media that would be an obvious choice.

Unfortunately putting "blame" on the pirates would not lead to the "change" that the media loves to pat itself on the back for. This is why soldiers taking a picture of naked prisoners is viewed significantly more harshly than a terrorist cutting off someone's head.

An outraged media might actually be able to effect change within a formal military structure, but since they have no effect on terrorist or pirate activities, the media does not consider railing against them to be worth the breath it would require.