April 5, 2006
No matter how hard you wish, you can’t make reality go away
This Monday the Chicago Tribune’s ace conservative voice Dennis Byrne was at it again, decrying the media for their evil biased ways and specifically for casting the situation in Iraq in such a negative light. (read it here) Byrne loves to get fired up on this topic, calling the media defensive when it stands up to deny false claims of liberal bias. Unfortunately, he’s basing his argument on unfirm ground.
I’m sorry Dennis, but an unfortunate affection for profits is the only bias the media (taken as a whole) really shows. Oh yeah, things in Iraq are going poorly. The successes you speak of are dubious and only newsworthy to regional news outlets. When was the last time the New York Times gave space on its front page to the opening of a new sewage plant? These sorts of good works helping people’s everyday lives don’t make the news here. Why do you think the American public will tune in at Ten for a ribbon cutting photo op?
But let’s examine some of the big successes from Iraq you wan the media to tout. You write “Billions of dollars of highway and other public works projects; new safety nets for the poor and vulnerable, entrepreneurial opportunities, a free press, leadership training…” Gee aren’t these all things conservatives fight to keep from the American people, and yet they’re great successes for Iraq. I guess their poor and afflicted need more help than ours at home. But that’s really a topic for another rant.
Back to Iraq… Those public works projects you cite have made the news. Of course it’s been news about how much our contractors have overcharged on these projects. The Iraqi media has been in the news a bunch too. That coverage has detailed how the American military is paying to have uncredited propaganda tun as news coverage. I guess we’re teaching their media about how money buys access to credibility. I happen to think that’s a poor lesson and an invitation for their media to quickly lose its freedom and independence.
I haven’t visited Iraq and that’s something we have in common. However, I look at the news reports and I see bombings continuing at a steady pace for going on their fourth year. I see a government unable to bridge the differences of their political and social agendas. (hey they’re really mirroring our government with that one.) The media isn’t saying this stuff to tarnish Iraq’s image or make Our Fine President and his administration look foolish. They’re reporting it because that’s what’s happening.
As an example of the media’s problems and biased follies you point out an overreliance on unnamed sources and act puzzled by the lack of trust in official communications from our current administration. I guess you simply forget the administration’s habit of stretching the truth to fit their agenda, or their pattern of ignoring all voices speaking contrary their objectives, and of course you don’t fee their habit of paying pundits to support their messages and programs. All of those things did their part to chip away just about every scrap of credibility the guys running the show once had.
The media has been to liberal with their use of unnamed sourcing, but these days whistleblowers are key to getting the full and balanced truth to the public. Those quickly silenced voices working to counter the administration’s reckless touting of WMD evidence sure seem pretty wise in hindsight now don’t they?
The news isn’t supposed to make you happy or help you feel good about yourself. It’s supposed to make you more informed. Sometimes it informs you of things you’d rather not know. Sometimes it’s unpleasant, but as a whole, the media do a good job of presenting what happens to the world. I guess you fall among the group that just wishes so hard for the world to be the way they want it to be, you balk when not-so-fun but oh-so-important realities are presented.