Greetings, CNN folk.
I feel obligated to leave a comment about your headlines for today. It has been established for some weeks now that there is an impending campaign to crackdown on security in Bagdad (you know, "the surge" currently debated in congress, in the media, and by the public), the locus for much of the sectarian violence. From other sources, it appears this surge is under way, yet, in visiting your news site, I find that “Nasa Love Triangle” is the leading story and the only reference to Iraq is a negative piece on a kickback scam run by US officers and the deaths resulting from a downed US helicopter.
What gives?
The American people have been constantly bombarded with stories and statistics about casualty rates (“grim milestones”), how the war is not going well and has been mismanaged, and is responsible for the president's and our country’s low approval ratings. And here we have a change in tactics and policy being implemented as I write this, measures that will have an enormous impact on whether the efforts for a stable democracy in Iraq has any success or failure, and CNN can’t be bothered to mention this development in their headlines? What else could you be waiting for, or consider more important? Ah yes, “NASA Love Triangle”.
Why would I not go elsewhere for my news in the future...
Sincerely,
Barbara Wester
Wednesday, February 07, 2007
Tuesday, February 06, 2007
"Our job is to bash the president"
Wow. Did anyone hear about this?
On Friday night's edition of Inside Washington, the first topic was whether the media's been unfair to President Bush given his abysmal approval ratings. NPR reporter Nina Totenberg said Bush received a free ride for years, so now the worm has turned and the coverage is fierce. A free ride? As if we’ve never heard criticism leveled at the president before now? Then the host turned to Newsweek's Evan Thomas, who was up front in his assessment of the media's role:
Gordon Peterson: "What do you think, Evan? Are the mainstream media bashing the president unfairly?"
Evan Thomas: "Well, our job is to bash the president, that's what we do almost --"
Peterson: "But unfairly?"
I can’t take anyone seriously when they dismiss the notion that the media has a blatant bias, one that’s hostile to this administration and makes no pretense of objectivity.
The message is very simple: the mainstream media are the key players in shaping public opinion according to the political outcomes they would desire. This agenda has consequences since we are currently in a global war against an ideology whose principle objective to transform the world into an Islamic state. The West has to fight to reform Islam except that it has an academic elite and a media that are actively engaged in foiling any effective response to this threat. As well, the insurgency understands that the only way they can win in Iraq isn’t by tactical military success but by undermining the American public’s support for the war.
So, in the end, neither the insurgents nor the media here at home want the project in Iraq to succeed.
On Friday night's edition of Inside Washington, the first topic was whether the media's been unfair to President Bush given his abysmal approval ratings. NPR reporter Nina Totenberg said Bush received a free ride for years, so now the worm has turned and the coverage is fierce. A free ride? As if we’ve never heard criticism leveled at the president before now? Then the host turned to Newsweek's Evan Thomas, who was up front in his assessment of the media's role:
Gordon Peterson: "What do you think, Evan? Are the mainstream media bashing the president unfairly?"
Evan Thomas: "Well, our job is to bash the president, that's what we do almost --"
Peterson: "But unfairly?"
I can’t take anyone seriously when they dismiss the notion that the media has a blatant bias, one that’s hostile to this administration and makes no pretense of objectivity.
The message is very simple: the mainstream media are the key players in shaping public opinion according to the political outcomes they would desire. This agenda has consequences since we are currently in a global war against an ideology whose principle objective to transform the world into an Islamic state. The West has to fight to reform Islam except that it has an academic elite and a media that are actively engaged in foiling any effective response to this threat. As well, the insurgency understands that the only way they can win in Iraq isn’t by tactical military success but by undermining the American public’s support for the war.
So, in the end, neither the insurgents nor the media here at home want the project in Iraq to succeed.
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