Now let me get this straight, Im not saying America should be like Communist Germany or anything like that.
Is the media doing more harm or good to America? They show the public whats going on in the War, which is good to know; but is it good if all they show is bad? The media shows the one or two bombings in Iraq a day, but not any of the citys that America has restored and brought peace and stability to; and there are more than you would think.
They make the War look like the end of the world. Compare it to past wars, 3000 men/women have died. Which is terrible, dont get me wrong; but compare it to Nam, Korea, WWI, WWII, and any other war in American history. 3000 Troops have died over 4 years, which is very very little compared to the other wars. But yet the media makes it look like its ruining America, and its the end of everything good
Should the government be able to force the media to broadcast the good w/ the bad, or should they be allowed to continue their propoganda?
2007-03-06 00:12:01 · 9 answers · asked by Anonymous in Politics & Government ➔ Military
You should ban war journalists, + let the fighting men do their jobs.
2007-03-06 07:42:17 · answer #1 · answered by CLIVE C 3 · 1⤊ 1⤋
No, the government should not be able to 'force' the media to do anything. Reports would immediately lose any credibility. There may well be a slight element of political bias between different publications but nothing so overt as censorship or dictatorship over what must be reported. People want to pick up a newspaper / watch the news and know that they are getting reasonably impartial reports. There is also that small matter of freedom of speech...have you forgotten the importance of this?
The reporting of bad news over good news is noticable in many areas, not just war reporting, and the reason for this is simple - it's about what is and isn't newsworthy. Let's be honest, the headline "Village Is Peaceful and Tranquil" is not going to grab a reader's attention as much as "50 Wounded in Bomb Blast" is it?
2007-03-06 08:41:45 · answer #2 · answered by Les 3 · 2⤊ 1⤋
Discarding freedom is never a choice. However the media must understand that by blowing up their stories and reporting only one side of the story they are working unknowingly in favour of the terrorists who given the chance would remove that very freedom.
Let us remember that we rarely see any news from the other side because it is meticulously filtered by either the terrorist/insurgent groups or even by the supposedly independent news agencies such as Al Jazeera.
2007-03-06 08:38:16 · answer #3 · answered by zaks 2 · 3⤊ 0⤋
I get sick when I hear someone minimize the deaths like you have done. WWII was necessary, Korea was necessary, Vietnam was a mistake and those 58,000 deaths were in vain. Now we have 3100 deaths in vain. If you think these troops died for a good cause, you are mistaken. Iraq will suck the life out of the country and the military and the blindness that so many Bush supporters have about the utter futility of this crappy war is pathetic. This is the greatest foreign policy blunder in 100 years. And Bush is to blame.
2007-03-06 08:25:20 · answer #4 · answered by iwasnotanazipolka 7 · 0⤊ 3⤋
No,of course not. As a UK citizen I can say that one of the good things about the USA is the freedom of the press and general freedom of expression. There is no evidence that the press is biassed on Iraq. Freedom of the press allows those who support the war to publish as much as those who are against it. If we hear a lot of bad news about Iraq now, I think it's because the war in Iraq has really been a failure.
One other point. Interestingly you only mention the number of US war dead. There have been many more (tens of thousands) Iraqis killed since the start of the war and the subsequent occupation and I believe that there were millions of Vietnamese killed in that "American war" as the Vietnamese call it.
2007-03-06 08:43:51 · answer #5 · answered by Euro 1 · 0⤊ 3⤋
I don't want to diss the troops. They do a great job...but I DO NOT support the reasons they are there (war), and DO NOT support the lies that took them there, They have died for lies. That goes for US as well as our own (UK) troops.
"Should the government be able to force the media...?"
After tearing up the First Amendment.
People need to know what's happening. The Government and Faux News can make you feel comfortable. But it's good to know both sides
2007-03-06 08:22:16 · answer #6 · answered by DanRSN 6 · 2⤊ 2⤋
Bad news is good press whos intrested in the press that a new school opened in Basra when a car bomb killed half a dozen people in Mosul?Thats how they keep the ratings and the money rolls in .
2007-03-07 09:55:48 · answer #7 · answered by frankturk50 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The problem is we have freedom of the press without responsibility of the press.
For example the press gives you a negative account of the war because this suits their interests.
The press has enormous power without any form of accountability - this inevitably leads to corruption.
2007-03-06 10:07:29 · answer #8 · answered by MikeGolf 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Polls and all thats feeds vox popoli. This is not just so in the US. There are enough antidotes to main stream medias in the Us then here in Europe. Just look the sites like tomsdispatch.com
2007-03-06 11:34:14 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 1⤋