3/30/2003: US soldier carries injured Iraqi soldier

[smoothmoniker]

Originally posted by arcterex
The only problem with the "they are executing our guys" thing is that this "news" is coming from places like fox and cnn, which aren't the most crediable IMO. Now that's the only place I've heard things like that though, if there is a source that doesn't come off like a reality tv show, I will stand corrected, but lets not take anything seen on TV (especially from "The War Room") as fact

I find it kind of hard to tenuate the undertext that's been floating around the threads concerning media coverage of the war.

I'm fine with the idea that central command is being intentional and purposeful in what they say and show, and that the intent is to bolster PR for the war.

I'm fine with the idea that the White House, the Pentagon, the Cabinet, and their "invisible hands" among the pundits and analysts are spinning the data to suit their own ends.

I may not agree, but I can grant the defensibility of the premise.

What I find very difficult to believe is the the Media (capital M) is somehow complicit in an attempt to spin the war in favor of the United States, to the extent that they would alter numbers of casualties, misreport troop movements, grant a false pretext regarding the disposition of POWs, etc.

The idea that hundreds of reporters, dozens of US media outlets, and the ubiquitous editors, copy writers, anchors and hosts would all be willing to misrepresent the actual events transpiring is highly implausible. The impartiality and objectivity of the media is a standard held very dearly among these institutions, and politiking aside for the moment, I think it is an ideal that is largely upheld. At the very least we ought to grant that the imperfect instantiation of the ideal found in the american media is the best instantiation yet available. Witness Pravda, Al-Jezeera, and The Sun (page3 aside) as the counter-evidence of the claim.

-sm