The current news coverage.....

[Claudia1]

.......is really bugging me.

I am not comfortable in hearing that "we underestimated the Iragis", the war "will be months and months", ...... for several reasons.

1) This is their opinion, not a supported fact presented by those in charge.
2) Our troops (and their families) do not need to hear this.
3) The Iragi's do not need to hear this.
4) I don't need to know this. I don't need to understand the whole campaign in order to support our troops and wave my flag. War does not follow a neatly choeographed plan. It changes day by day and even minute by minute.

I really want to follow a news team that reports the facts and only confirmed news reports. I don't mind the wall-to-wall coverage but I want it to be news, not subjective reporting.

Getting off my soapbox now to wave my flag......

 

[Dan Murphy]

They do seem to take pains to enhance the already sensationalized aspects of the war, don't they, Claudia? A war, by its nature, it sensational, and the media, they try to drag it out for every ounce they can. Same gripe here.

 

[rob@rar.org.uk]

I agree that the broadcast media (and the press) can go beyond what many of its viewers and readers consider to be reasonable coverage. From what I have seen of US TV news this happens more frequently than with the coverage TV we have in the UK. On the other hand I would not want to see the media prohibited from any analysis of the events, as I find it useful to help me make up my mind about those events. If there are sensationalist aspects of the coverage I either ignore it, or hit the 'off' button.

I don't belive that all of the media are inventing stories about "underestimatinmg the Iraqis" - there are facts which underpin this perception. Therefore I would not wish to see the media completely ignore this, but it would be nice to see them get in into perspective.

Regards

Rob

 

[Lady M]

I agree with you, Claudia. I don't like some of the things they're saying either.

What totally upsets me, though, are the comments about the war possibly not being "on schedule." We're talking about combat, air missions, bombs being dropped, Iraqis dressing in coalition uniforms and murdering the civilians who try to surrender, Iraqis pretending to be civilians surrendering to our troops so they can get close enough to them to kill them, despicable Death Squads who murder civilian Iraqis trying to leave their towns, and all other types of unconventional, deceitful, underhanded acts of inhumane, terrorist-type activities going on in this war!!!

How the news media can bring so many negative comments about the war not being "on schedule" to the T.V. audience is beyond me. It's not a war "game" but real-life war with people getting wounded and dying, and a myriad of unexpected events happening on the battlefield. Sometimes I think a portion of the news media is more concerned about "ratings" than they are about "truth."

Marie

 

[Laz]

I don't want to wave the flag in someones face, it is not the time. But these media people are burning me up! THERE ARE MEN AND WOMEN DYING OVER THERE!!! I am sitting here listening to a news briefing were the reporters are trying to do anything they can to maniuplate words to get the person at the podium to say something that will make are service people look bad, unprepared, etc. SAVE THAT #$^%& FOR WHEN THE WAR IS OVER!! The enemy is watching these briefings as well! This isn't about politics anymore. Its about the lives of our military!!! Every wrong statement could mean an Iraqi that becomes more bold. That may mean another body bag. MEDIA SHUT UP!!!

Sorry about being so upset. May God protect our service people.

 

[Claudia1]

Good points, Rob.

Maybe my points should more appropriately be to identify their commentary as subjective and report the facts as confirmed facts.

 

[nativetxn]

I have figured out how to deal with this, Claudia. I don't watch the news channels. They only care about their ratings and they don't care what they have to do to get high ratings.

They've always been this way. Right now it's the war they are exploiting. They exploited 9/11, too. In between those two events they exploited politics and missing children. They have no conscience, all they want is for us to watch them and become emotionally involved with what <b>they tell us to believe</b>.

I don't trust them and I don't watch them. I will wait and see what happens. I'm not going to try to second guess our country's leader or our military because I don't know what they know.

Hang in there sweetie. Frustrating and frightening times

 

[Disney Doll]

I have little or no respect for the media. I thnk most of them are trying to manipulate the facts to sensationalize it more to get more of the market share of viewers. It drives me crazy to watch the Centcom briefings and other news briefings, because of the way the reporters there twist around the words of what the briefers say. It drives me crazy that the reporters ask the same questions 92 times, as if they are going to get a different answer if they keep asking the question. It drives me crazy that they ask stupid questions such as :"Can you tell us where the coalition soldiers will be moving next?" DUH! What a great idea!!! Let's televise the war plan so that the enemy will know exactly what's going on. It drives me crazy when they say things like "since the war has lasted longer than expected"...hello!!!! It's SEVEN days old!!!!! They have like more than 50% of the country under coalition control. Did anybody really think that a WAR would be over in a week??? Is anyone in the media really that stupid????? The thing that annoys me the most is when they believe reports from Iraq or Russia or Syria regarding the terrible atrocities the US is supposedly committing over there. WE ARE THE GOOD GUYS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Off my soapbox now.

 

[Laz]

As a school teacher, I have to face the tons of questions that nervous children have about this war. Many of them know people who are in harms way. These children grew up with the media--many of them latch key kids whose only friend was the television. THE MEDIA MUST BE RESPONSIBLE!!

 

[Robinrs]

I've been a member of the so-called "media" for 22 years and you've got every reason in the world to NOT listen to them. It's a money making entertainment commercial vehicle, not much else, and like television, it can be an educational tool or a "boob" tube.

 

[apagano]

This war is giving us many great examples of how you can take the same exact set of facts and make them fit whatever agenda you're trying to promote. Turn on one station and the war is going splendidly. Change the channel and the very same facts are used to show how poorly the war is going. Take the whole idea of enemy resistance. Channel A reports "pockets of resitance." Channel B reports the same fact as "fierce fighting." Both are technically true, but they give you a totally different portrait of the war. The same is happening with protest coverage. One station will focus on the hundreds of thousands of protesters, while a second station stresses the ones who throw bottles. Same story, different slant. Who are we supposed to believe?

 

[jenjie]

The media and the public may have been surprised at how this is playing out but I don't think resistance, challenges or casualties are a surprise to those making the decisions. I was reminded that the president had ordered 70,000 body bags. It's not something that I like to think about but it reminds me that he is taking this seriously and does not expect it to be a "cakewalk", as some in the media have said.

 

[Saffron]

At some time during the morning I tune into any station, doesn't matter, just to hear the latest, take it all with a grain of salt, then try to stay away from anything that makes a living off of selling news for ratings, no matter what station it is! I think they're all irresponsible, no matter what slant they're trying to sell.

The only time I watch TV news is when something like 9/11 happens, then I can't tear myself away , that is until things calm down and the stations start editorializing things again. I'll also tune into TV if someone has posted something on the CB that seems to be "big".

And Rob, I think you're right. Two of our local PBS stations broadcast BBS newscasts in the middle of the night. I like to watch those. Somehow your broadcasts seem less biased to me, more factual, less sensational.