I must admit that I'm not following the minutia of the war that the media outlets are providing. I find the whole concept to be not only depressing but also somewhat obscene. "Embedded" reporters seems such a bad idea on so many levels and I can only shake my head when they show an "operation" that has literally as many journalists as combatants.
I always take most of the mainstream media with a proverbial grain of salt. However, I watched this Bill Moyers special last night and found the whole thing disgusting. Seems that the knee-jerk jingoism of Fox News has rubbed off on the other outlets since, well, it sells. I mean, have you seen Fox's ad bashing MSNBC for employing Peter Arnett (who I think is just a pompous asshole)? As a result, the media has become the military's cheerleader. Dan Rather even admits that's the case. When truth loses we all lose.
So who can we count on for an objective opinion? The BBC? The New York Times? An alternative source? Sadly, I don't really know anymore.
We'll always have the last bastion of journalistic integrity...
Posted by mikewolf at April 05, 2003 10:22 AMI think the mass media hand-wringing is kind of self-serving. I doubt they would start doing any 'hard' reporting, if it hurt ratings.
Major media is just sound-bite sensationalism these days (no insight, just sound-bite). Sure Dan Rather *says* he'd ask the tough questions, but that guy has always been about his own ego, IMHO.
If anything, the pollyanna in me thanks the internet. I actually must say I feel pretty well informed. It's all out there.
Oh, and if you must pick up something at the newstand, don't forget to read The Nation. Jeeze, I can't remember the last time I read the Voice. Is it any good these days?
Posted by: deano on April 5, 2003 04:36 PMOr, you could just try this site.
Pretty amazing collection of links...
http://www.webcamsue.demon.nl/
And, no, generally the Voice tries too hard to shock and is too cool for school.
Posted by: mrw on April 5, 2003 08:38 PMHey now, don't be dissin' the Weekly World News. Most of the stories in there (believe it or not) come straight off the Associated Press and Reuters newswires. Of course, there are exceptions (like Batboy, for example).
Posted by: K.. Britt on April 6, 2003 01:06 AMNo one. The media's just fueling momentum for Bush (or should I say Cheney's) agenda.
But, we already knew that.
Posted by: Cory on April 9, 2003 02:37 AM