A soldier in Iraq puts it in perspective
One of Power Line's regular correspondents, a U.S. Army Major reports the real story in Iraq.
BBC broadcasts and online reports... could easily persuade a viewer that my BBC acquaintance’s "sky is falling" prediction was the most accurate. In fact, even when reporting the results, the network focused not on the achievement of yet another milestone in Iraq’s transition from tyranny to democracy, but instead on some minor Sunni minister who was unhappy with his post. I think it was the Minister of the Environment, so perhaps his next step will be to contact Christine Todd Whitman's literary agent.
Anyway, the episode reminded me of how the media tends to view such events—always as potential cataclysms, rather than as small, positive steps forward. Portraying events that way probably gets more television viewers and sells more newspapers. But the growth of alternative media indicates that the public is learning that they may not be getting the story as objectively as claimed, which creates a thirst for other sources of information, whether it be Fox News, emails from troops, or blogs.
Thank you for taking the time to read this, and for all of the support you and your readers give to the troops.
Of course, if enough mainstream news organizations like the Roanoke Times and Newsweek keep using the news to create more terrorists, many more innocent people will die.
Read the whole thing.
BBC broadcasts and online reports... could easily persuade a viewer that my BBC acquaintance’s "sky is falling" prediction was the most accurate. In fact, even when reporting the results, the network focused not on the achievement of yet another milestone in Iraq’s transition from tyranny to democracy, but instead on some minor Sunni minister who was unhappy with his post. I think it was the Minister of the Environment, so perhaps his next step will be to contact Christine Todd Whitman's literary agent.
Anyway, the episode reminded me of how the media tends to view such events—always as potential cataclysms, rather than as small, positive steps forward. Portraying events that way probably gets more television viewers and sells more newspapers. But the growth of alternative media indicates that the public is learning that they may not be getting the story as objectively as claimed, which creates a thirst for other sources of information, whether it be Fox News, emails from troops, or blogs.
Thank you for taking the time to read this, and for all of the support you and your readers give to the troops.
Of course, if enough mainstream news organizations like the Roanoke Times and Newsweek keep using the news to create more terrorists, many more innocent people will die.
Read the whole thing.
posted by Salt Lick at 6/02/2005 07:53:00 AM
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