The news media in post 9/11 America
9/01/08
On March 11 2002, six months after 9/11, the BBC filed this report:
The mood in America … is almost martial at times. Flags remain draped on buildings. The veteran CBS newscaster Dan Rather almost broke down at the end of one evening news as he spoke of the soldiers who had died in the fighting. People have little time for critics abroad.
When a year later, the United States invaded Iraq, digitally generated American flags waved behind news anchors on the country’s 24-7 cable newscasts. Some anchors gushed their enthusiasm for “shock-and-awe.” And polls showed roughly half of Americans believed it had been Iraqis, not largely Saudis, who flown planes into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.
How did this happen? For the most part, American reporters stopped questioning, stopped challenging, an administration that back then had the support of 80 percent of the American public. Recognizing that it faced little real scrutiny, the Bush Administration either made up or manipulated whatever facts it found convenient. Saddam had weapons of mass destruction, it said. Iraq was the central front in the war against Al Qaeda. This was not a war of aggression but a fight to preserve freedom.
In turn, the American press’ failure was not a willful promulgation of propaganda but a skewed application of the press principles of objective journalism. The objective reporter should examine all facts and then report truth, giving those disputing the facts a modest chance to respond. But today, the American press simply gives the views of two sides equal weight – even if one flies in the face of what the facts show. That has been – and remains – the U.S. news media’s biggest failing.
Today,the American press continues to misapply the concepts of objectivity, even as the Bush Administration's popularity has plumetted. Yes, George Bush gets more negative press. But the country’s twin wars, in Iraq and Afghanistan, remain bloodless. Violence is rarely shown or written about. The crippling cost of war -- $10 billion a month – is rarely examined. And American excesses, torture included, get short shrift in the news.
No, the American media do not intentionally propagandize. But they have been – and to some extent remain – complicit in their silence.
On March 11 2002, six months after 9/11, the BBC filed this report:
The mood in America … is almost martial at times. Flags remain draped on buildings. The veteran CBS newscaster Dan Rather almost broke down at the end of one evening news as he spoke of the soldiers who had died in the fighting. People have little time for critics abroad.
When a year later, the United States invaded Iraq, digitally generated American flags waved behind news anchors on the country’s 24-7 cable newscasts. Some anchors gushed their enthusiasm for “shock-and-awe.” And polls showed roughly half of Americans believed it had been Iraqis, not largely Saudis, who flown planes into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.
How did this happen? For the most part, American reporters stopped questioning, stopped challenging, an administration that back then had the support of 80 percent of the American public. Recognizing that it faced little real scrutiny, the Bush Administration either made up or manipulated whatever facts it found convenient. Saddam had weapons of mass destruction, it said. Iraq was the central front in the war against Al Qaeda. This was not a war of aggression but a fight to preserve freedom.
In turn, the American press’ failure was not a willful promulgation of propaganda but a skewed application of the press principles of objective journalism. The objective reporter should examine all facts and then report truth, giving those disputing the facts a modest chance to respond. But today, the American press simply gives the views of two sides equal weight – even if one flies in the face of what the facts show. That has been – and remains – the U.S. news media’s biggest failing.
Today,the American press continues to misapply the concepts of objectivity, even as the Bush Administration's popularity has plumetted. Yes, George Bush gets more negative press. But the country’s twin wars, in Iraq and Afghanistan, remain bloodless. Violence is rarely shown or written about. The crippling cost of war -- $10 billion a month – is rarely examined. And American excesses, torture included, get short shrift in the news.
No, the American media do not intentionally propagandize. But they have been – and to some extent remain – complicit in their silence.
posted by Jerry Lanson at 7:12 AM
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