Who's Fighting, Why? and How?

[Annie]

http://www.blackfive.net/main/2005/01/aiding_and_abbe.html

 

[manu1959]

http://www.blackfive.net/main/2005/01/aiding_and_abbe.html

great article....i tell people this all the time....they tell me i am being missled by the media wait hey are the ones...

 

[nakedemperor]

News is a business. Networks compete for viewership. If you reported nationally about "inane" drunk driving deaths or heart disease statistics, no one would watch you or read you. The networks have to make money. That's the "why". Everyone is inherently "more interested" in a headline like "7 Marines die in rocket attack" than "heart disease continues to kill". This is true across all boundaries, hitting the greatest common denominator. Liberals, conservatives, moderates alike all click on the headlines to read the stories, even if they wish the stories weren't there to begin with. I agree with the premise of the essay, but it doesn't (and can't) really offer any comprehensive solutions to the problem. Its a polemic that existed before the war in Iraq, and will exist after the United States withdraws. The news doesn't necessarily tell us what is most valuable (this doesn't mean "most uplifting", as war-supporters generally lament a lack of) but tells us what we'd be interested in watching/reading/hearing.

 

[HorhayAtAMD]

The news doesn't necessarily tell us what is most valuable but tells us what we'd be interested in watching/reading/hearing.

It raises an interesting question though. If your point is correct (and I personally agree with it), the next question to ask is why? Why would Americans be more interested in reading about how Iraqi insurgents have killed American soldiers than in reading about how American soldiers have killed Iraqi insurgents?

 

[freeandfun1]

It raises an interesting question though. If your point is correct (and I personally agree with it), the next question to ask is why? Why would Americans be more interested in reading about how Iraqi insurgents have killed American soldiers than in reading about how American soldiers have killed Iraqi insurgents?

Or, how American soldiers have contributed positively to Iraqi society. Which they have.

 

[manu1959]

It raises an interesting question though. If your point is correct (and I personally agree with it), the next question to ask is why? Why would Americans be more interested in reading about how Iraqi insurgents have killed American soldiers than in reading about how American soldiers have killed Iraqi insurgents?

i have always wondered this.... why does the media focus on the bad...every nightly news cast starts and ends with death and destruction...can you remember a news cast that didn't have so and so was murdered, run over hit kicked shot....why? are you saying the american people prefer bad news news?....and if true....whay aren't they reporting that the entire (pick your country) is then on the brink of civil war because of the crime?

 

[HorhayAtAMD]

Or, how American soldiers have contributed positively to Iraqi society. Which they have.

Not enough death and destruction in that story. Car crashes where everyone dies make the front page. Teenagers helping grannies cross the road don't.

In Iraq though, there are 2 stories of death and destruction though. So why does the media focus on the death and destruction when Americans are on the losing end and ignore (or tone down) the stories where the Iraqis lose? If you fell for the American stereotypes of "we are the best, the most powerful, blah blah blah", you would think that the opposite would be true.

 

[HorhayAtAMD]

death and destruction

death and destruction

Spooky, we wrote that at exactly the same time.

 

[manu1959]

Not enough death and destruction in that story. Car crashes where everyone dies make the front page. Teenagers helping grannies cross the road don't.

In Iraq though, there are 2 stories of death and destruction though. So why does the media focus on the death and destruction when Americans are on the losing end and ignore (or tone down) the stories where the Iraqis lose? If you fell for the American stereotypes of "we are the best, the most powerful, blah blah blah", you would think that the opposite would be true.

you seem to be unaware of what is taught in journalisim school

 

[manu1959]

Spooky, we wrote that at exactly the same time.

2 minutes appart dude...don't get all i see deaf monkeys on me

 

[HorhayAtAMD]

you seem to be unaware of what is taught in journalisim school

Edjumacate me. Is it the left dominated media wanting to show that the war in Iraq was a mistake? If so, is Fox (I understand that Fox is a more right leaning company?) reporting different types of news?

 

[freeandfun1]

Edjumacate me. Is it the left dominated media wanting to show that the war in Iraq was a mistake? If so, is Fox (I understand that Fox is a more right leaning company?) reporting different types of news?

actually, yes. On Fox you will see more positive stories and more stories that focus on the soldiers - from a positive and more personal point of view.....

 

[manu1959]

Edjumacate me. Is it the left dominated media wanting to show that the war in Iraq was a mistake? If so, is Fox (I understand that Fox is a more right leaning company?) reporting different types of news?

you funny...me love you long time ...dalla dalla no bite

first fox shows death and destruction too

second, journalism school teaches sceptisim and distrust it is what being a journalist is about you are taught that what you see and hear is not the "truth" and that the truth lies beneath the "truth"....

finally journalists and teachers tend to be more to the left in their political views so the left teaches the left

 

[manu1959]

actually, yes. On Fox you will see more positive stories and more stories that focus on the soldiers - from a positive and more personal point of view.....

i disagree, i watch msnbc and cnn and the rest and they all show the human interest positive stories

 

[freeandfun1]

i disagree, i watch msnbc and cnn and the rest and they all show the human interest positive stories

okay.... I must admit I have seen some good stories on CNN lately while working out, but right after the positive story, they show 10 straight negative stories...

but maybe i am just anti-CNN so much (I travel a lot - CNN Int'l will do that to you - they are really, really anti-American)

 

[HorhayAtAMD]

you funny...me love you long time ...dalla dalla no bite

That's uncalled for. I don't get American news channels any more so I have no way of knowing what they are showing without asking.

 

[onedomino]

American Troops Cheer Attacks on U.S. Media (edited)
January 13, 2005

http://www.aim.org/aim_report/2510_0_4_0_C/ (full text)

Vince McMahon, chairman of World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), told American troops in Iraq before Christmas that when he returned to the U.S. he was going to look up the "negative media nay saying types and I'm going to say that you said that they can go straight to hell."

His comments were met with cheers and thumbs up.

McMahon and several of his WWE stars were in Iraq to perform for the troops. They crisscrossed the country in Blackhawk helicopters and met the troops in 16 different locations. They signed autographs, took photos and taped a full show that was broadcast on December 23 on the UPN network.

Those who witnessed the TV spectacle and the reaction of the troops to McMahon's strong attacks on the media saw something that was extraordinary. It is clear that many of our troops are seething with anger and resentment over media coverage of the war.

Speaking to thousands of soldiers in an old soccer stadium near Tikrit, Iraq, McMahon said that "The most important reason why we're here is to simply say 'thank you.' On behalf of an appreciative nation, on behalf of the WWE, on behalf of your family and loved ones back home, we thank you for all that you do from the bottom of our hearts. Quite frankly, we thought we were going to come over here and boost your spirits. Hell, you boosted ours. The secret weapon of the American fighting men and women is the American spirit that lives inside each and every one of you."

McMahon continued, "Unfortunately, back home we don't hear about that. Unfortunately, back home in the media all we hear is all the negatives here in Iraq. Negative, negative, negative, negative. We never hear about all the positives. We never hear about all your progress and accomplishments. We never hear about all the good things all of you do each and every day of your lives."

Upon his return home, McMahon was deluged with requests for interviews. His WWE website featured an article noting that he had "one clear message" for the media: "Report the good work being done in Iraq, not just the bad news."

McMahon said, "We get a little bit closer to the soldiers than most entertainers who just go and do their show and then leave. So we really get to know what's on their mind. And one of the things that concerns them is that the job that they're doing is not very well reported over here in the states. As far as the media is concerned, their point of view—and they get the news just like all the rest of us over here—is that it's generally very negative, and they take exception to that because they're doing a great job over there."

As if to illustrate McMahon's point, the lead front page story in the December 23 Washington Post was more bad news about Iraq. "Iraq Base Was Hit by Suicide Attack" was the headline. However, inside the second section of the paper was a story back on page seven about a funeral service for a U.S. Marine corporal, Binh "Ben" Le, who had been killed by a car bomb in Iraq on December 3. Normally, this would have been another bad-news story. And it was a tragedy. But this story had an interesting twist: "Over his coffin stood two Marines in dress uniform, one holding a U.S. flag steady in the breeze, the other the flag of the fallen South Vietnam."

Binh Le was born in Vietnam and brought to America as a child. "He understood what it was like in a fairly oppressed society, and he really enjoyed the freedoms he had over here," said his friend, Jamey Payne. "He wanted to help others experience that…It was a true American story." His father said, "He did the right job for the family, for the country, for himself."

What an inspiring story about American sacrifice!

A website in his honor, created by his friend Paul Stadig, declares that "Binh joined the Marine Corps to serve the country he loved." A close friend said, "He gave the ultimate sacrifice so that others could live." Another said, "Freedom cannot be achieved without sacrifices, and sacrifices cannot be made without deaths. Binh Le, like other soldiers who gave up their lives for freedom, is a man of honor because of his decision to defend the country from terrorists and enemies abroad so we at home can enjoy freedom."

The Post reported, "Le returned from his first tour brimming with stories of the gratitude of ordinary Iraqis, friends said. Stadig recalled Le describing an Iraqi family that invited the Marines for tea. When they were finished, the Marines handed their cups back, only to find them quickly refilled. Many cups later, they learned that according to local custom, if a guest drains his cup all the way, it should always be refilled."

It is tragic that the inspiring story about Binh Le gets buried in the paper while bad news about the war in Iraq is constantly featured on page one.

The Vietnam Strategy

It is an old media strategy that we saw during the Vietnam War.

Writing in the American Legion Magazine, Jim Bohannon, the talk-show host who served in Vietnam in 1967-68 with the 199th Light Infantry Brigade, wrote that the communist strategy of "winning away from the battlefield worked—an especially fortunate circumstance for the communist cause, since they never came close to winning on the battlefield against U.S. forces."

Bohannon cites coverage of Tet, when a U.S. military victory was depicted as a success by the communists. He said that American reporters "exaggerated the power and popularity of the Viet Cong" and provided the American people "gloomy media depictions" about progress of the war. Bohannon concludes, "No matter how one feels about the war, few can deny that the enemy would have approved of the coverage."

Bohannon notes that former CBS Evening News anchorman Walter Cronkite wrote with apparent pride that, "The daily coverage of the Vietnamese battlefield helped convince the American public that the carnage was not worth" [it]. One has to consider that the gloom and doom coverage of the Iraq war is also designed to force a U.S. withdrawal and another American humiliation.

In Iraq on Christmas Eve, a soldier expressed his disgust with the media directly to Defense Secretary Rumsfeld. "Everything we do good, no matter whether it's helping a little kid or building a new school, the public affairs sends out the message that the media doesn't pick up on," the soldier said. "How do we win the propaganda war?"

Rumsfeld replied, "Everything we do here is harder because of television stations like Al-Jazeera and Al-Arabiya and the constant negative approach. You don't hear about the schools that are open, and the hospitals that are open, and the clinics that are open, and the fact that the stock market is open and the Iraqi currency is steady and the fact that there have been something like 140,000 refugees coming from other countries back into this country. They're voting with their feet because they believe this is a country of the future. You don't read about that. You read about every single negative thing that anyone can find to report. I was talking to a group of congressmen and senators the other day, and there were a couple of them who had negative things to say and they were in the press in five minutes. There were 15 or 20 that had positive things to say about what's going on in Iraq and they couldn't get on television. Television just said we're not interested. That's just—sorry. So it is, I guess, what's
news has to be bad news."

The story about Rumsfeld's visit to Iraq in the New York Times the next day, written by Richard A. Oppel, Jr., made no mention of the exchange over the negative influence of the media.

Washington Post reporter Josh White covered the exchange with one sentence, deep inside his story.

On NBC News, Pentagon correspondent Jim Miklaszewski claimed that Rumsfeld made the trip to Iraq to counter the "sagging morale" of the troops there. But it appears, based on what the soldiers are saying, that any morale problems can be attributed to the relentlessly negative media coverage.

Some reporters do not want to acknowledge the fact that the troops have turned against the press.

-

 

[manu1959]

That's uncalled for. I don't get American news channels any more so I have no way of knowing what they are showing without asking.

sorry no fence.....lighten up dude...where in the world are you...oh and you ain't missing mutch

 

[manu1959]

okay.... I must admit I have seen some good stories on CNN lately while working out, but right after the positive story, they show 10 straight negative stories...

but maybe i am just anti-CNN so much (I travel a lot - CNN Int'l will do that to you - they are really, really anti-American)

yea i win one !

 

[sagegirl]

News is a business. Networks compete for viewership. If you reported nationally about "inane" drunk driving deaths or heart disease statistics, no one would watch you or read you. The networks have to make money. That's the "why". Everyone is inherently "more interested" in a headline like "7 Marines die in rocket attack" than "heart disease continues to kill". This is true across all boundaries, hitting the greatest common denominator. Liberals, conservatives, moderates alike all click on the headlines to read the stories, even if they wish the stories weren't there to begin with. I agree with the premise of the essay, but it doesn't (and can't) really offer any comprehensive solutions to the problem. Its a polemic that existed before the war in Iraq, and will exist after the United States withdraws. The news doesn't necessarily tell us what is most valuable (this doesn't mean "most uplifting", as war-supporters generally lament a lack of) but tells us what we'd be interested in watching/reading/hearing.

There is considerable political control and pressure on the press and other media. There is alot of manipulation going on, and in the end we all lose. I know that "libs or conservatives" can watch the same news and both come away with the idea that the reporting was biased. Truthful, informative, and unbiased reports are available and are often linked by members here. You get what you ask for and if you want the news that makes you feel good or justifies your point of view, that is what you will read/watch. If you want to be informed, and have an attention span of over 20 seconds, there are alternative sources.
It obviously serves a purpose to keep the distraction level as high as possible so that their true agenda can be carried out. This is not a fault of the people, more like victimization. But then again you can only be victimized if you let it happen............