Avoid media stew of malice (The war is going very well)

The Ottawa Citizen ^ | 03-27-03 | David Warren

[skeeter]

This writer makes some great points.

And this is the photo of the day.

[Grampa Dave]

Thank you!

As usual, very well done.

It is incredible how the left wing media maggots like Reuters/AP/BBC/NY Slimes and of course ABCNNBCBS started this we are losing the war. Some didn't wait a week.. They started this past weekend.

Then our own whiner/moaners and 5th columnist CINO's conservative in name only went ballistic Monday and Tuesday. They were posting all of this crapola from the liberal sources pretending that it was the Gospel!

[JohnHuang2]

Why, thanks, friend.

Then our own whiner/moaners and 5th columnist CINO's conservative in name only went ballistic Monday and Tuesday. They were posting all of this crapola from the liberal sources pretending that it was the Gospel!

Exactly.

[Grampa Dave]

Thanks for the excellent history lesson. Please use it with the whiner/moaners and FR's 5th columnist CINOs (Conservatives in Name only), when they cite the liberal propaganda that we are losing this war.

We have excellent historians in Free Republic, and you just proved that you are one of these excellent historians!

Thanks again!

[MeekOneGOP]

Thanks for the post and ping, folks ! . . .

But while the allies move from victory to victory on the first two "fronts," they are suffering serious and mostly unavoidable setbacks on the third, propaganda, one. I am tempted to stop and argue with the barrage of media reports -- the "24/7 battery of lies" to which I referred in a former article; a remark that filled my inbox with hate mail from my fellow journalists. But there is too much of it for one writer to deal with.

It begins on the small scale with remarks made in sheer ignorance. For instance, an Abrams tank with its treads blown off has not been "destroyed;" its crew is alive, and the tank can be fixed. Or, Apache helicopters grounded by a sandstorm have not been "turned back by Iraqi defenders." A frequent misunderstanding is about sandstorms themselves, which present a net advantage to U.S. forces. At the battle of Najaf, Monday into Tuesday, they were annihilating Iraqi fighters by the hundreds. The U.S. soldiers could see them clearly as heat signatures on their equipment; whereas the Saddamites could not see the Americans.

But it gets much worse than this. To present civilian deaths, such as those in a Baghdad market, even as a U.S. "mistake," on the basis of Iraqi sources only, is to disseminate Saddamite propaganda. In this case, alternative possibilities include an Iraqi inside job, to create a much-needed atrocity story (something they have repeatedly tried elsewhere); a misguided Iraqi surface-to-air missile; or an American cruise missile or bomb deflected from a nearby target by Iraq's recently acquired Russian GPS-jamming equipment. And even if it were an American mistake, western journalists participating in the subsequent Iraqi media tour of the site are directly assisting in a propaganda stunt, designed to inflame anti-American opinion throughout the Arab world, and beyond it.

On the large scale, we have the persistent display of doubts about tactics and strategy from journalists without any qualifications to judge them: who know no military history, indeed hardly any history at all; nor are they in possession of many current facts. Their motives are, moreover, clear enough, for many are people whose anti-Bush and anti-American attitudes were on display long before the war.

We also have, in vast doses, a somewhat less political morbid sentimentality that should have no place in war reporting, for it clouds all judgment on matters of life and death.

< snip >

I want to tell my readers directly: do not be discouraged by, and avoid wallowing in, this rich stew of malice. The media front may look grim; but the war itself is going very well.

[Grampa Dave]

I have been there and done that.

Now, when I check in a hotel/motel I tell the front desk that I don't want the so called free USA. Most will deduct a $ from your bill when you tell them that.

Then, I never watch any phoney news from ABCNNBCBS. If they don't have Fox News. The tv never goes to a news station.

Just two weeks ago, I was driving back from fishing and listening to a conservative radio station in the Sacramento area. The ABC news on the hour had me depressed in just 5 minutes. I got on Free Republic after I got home, and as usual what depressed me was the lies/propaganda for Eisner's hate GW phoney news group!

[MrConfettiMan]

On the large scale, we have the persistent display of doubts about tactics and strategy from journalists without any qualifications to judge them: who know no military history, indeed hardly any history at all; nor are they in possession of many current facts. Their motives are, moreover, clear enough, for many are people whose anti-Bush and anti-American attitudes were on display long before the war.

fyi ping

[MaeWest]

For crying out loud, Grampa, go to the Fox News website and check their motel listings for those with Fox News. Don't stay anywhere that doesn't have FOX!!
Now I'll dash over to Fox to see if I can get a link for you!

[conservatism_IS_compassion]

"One of the key elements ... in this battle is the willingness of the Iraqi people to stand up to the Saddamite remnants. That willingness depends, in part, on their confidence that the allies are making progress. What the BBC is able to do, by broadcasting directly to these people, is to keep the Iraqi people's morale as far down as possible, thereby helping to make the war more bloody, thereby helping discredit it in retrospect."

The BBC is hardly the only source of disinformation on the war; it is everywhere in the "liberal" media,

The Arab press is goverment-controlled anti-freedom propaganda. That we can understand. The odd-seeming part is the fact that free competitive American (and British, as the BBC example illustrates) essentially mirrors the antiAmericanism of hostile governments. But it was no different during the Cold War; CBS was sometimes labeled the "Communist Broadcasting System".

To understand why this is so you must "follow the money." Once you understand the actual financial incentives

Why Broadcast Journalism is Unnecessary and Illegitimate

of journalism, journalists' attitudes/behavior does not seem quite so incomprehensible.

[MaeWest]

Here it is:
http://foxnews.hotellocators.com/
You can also go to their home page and click on the link from there.

[Grampa Dave]

Amazing I just got a reply on this on another thread. Thanks that url is stored in my travel folder.

[.38sw]

It's a rotten paper, isn't it? Actually I had used the Fox news hotel finder, so FNC was available, and I watched it in the evening. Still, I was pretty foolish to read USA today. But i'm so accustomed to reading a paper in the morning, I almost couldn't help myself. I get the Contra Costa Times, and it isn't as bad as USA Today.

[Grampa Dave]

My son will buy the Contra Costa Times and read it at work. He is probably more conservative than I am, and he feels that for the most part, the CCT is okay.

[Alamo-Girl]

Bump!

[CyberAnt]

"Bevelaqua"

I agree - I've notice he has become more and more negative as we actually got into this war. Most of the other military people seem to be pleased with our progress so far.

[sakic]

The question asked before the invasion was not how successful the war would be. Everyone assumed it would go well. The divisions of opinion regard the aftermath of the war.

[SkyPilot]

Beautiful article.

Listening to the questions shouted at the Pentagon yesterday by reporters filled me with my own shock and awe, to wit:

- do these reporters ever (EVER) looks at Sunday's game films on Monday and assess how they have acted and behaved?

- If they have done the above, mea culpa and shame should be their war cry

[JoeSchem]

Saddam Hussein has lost his country and is now reduced to Baghdad and environs. Soon he will be reduced to a bunker. Then he and his mistress and German shepherd will take vials of poison and their bodies will be burned beyond recognition, thus sparking sixty years of 'Saddam is alive and well and living in Argentina' paperback thrillers.

[jiggyboy]

Is that Afghanistan, or is it Iraq? If it's Iraq, that would be a perfect sign for the next showdown with the anti-Americans.

[RobFromGa]

you're the man, JH2, 'er

I mean you're the hombre, JH2!