The State of the US Press
The state of the US press seems to be a bipartisan issue. Conservatives complain about the liberal leanings of the media. Liberals complain that the news is fed to the media by the White House. Ironically, both views might be correct. After all, one doesn't preclude the other. One thing is clear, however, the news media do appear to be close to broken. It was refreshing to see that working members of the Fourth Estate also hold that view. From the Guardian:
Arabic-language media have an unprecedented chance to take over as the world's premier news source because trust in their US counterparts plummeted following their "shameful coverage" of the war in Iraq, a conference heard today.
The US media reached an "all-time low" in failing to reflect public opinion and Americans' desire for trusted information, instead acting as a "cheerleader" for war, said Amy Goodman, the executive producer and host of US TV and radio news show Democracy Now!, at a news forum organised by al-Jazeera.
Newsweek's Paris bureau chief, Christopher Dickey, said the US media were dying because of cutbacks and weren't interested in covering the world outside America.
...Ms Goodman said in the run-up to the Iraq war a study of NBC, CBS, ABC and PBS newscasts over a fortnight recorded 393 interviews on the conflict, of which only three reported the anti-war movement.
"This is a media cheerleading for war and does not represent mainstream opinion in the US," she added.
Ms Goodman said she believed the policy of embedding reporters with coalition forces was "a total failure for independent journalism ... western audiences need to see the other side of the story - from communities and hospitals".
"If people in the US had a true picture of war - dead babies, women with their legs blown off, dead and dying soldiers - they would say 'no'," she said.
"There is nothing more important than the media - it is more powerful than any bomb or missile and we have to take it back ... we need a media that is independent and honestly showing us the images, the hell, ugliness and brutality of war, not selling us war."
Mr Dickey, the Middle East regional editor and Paris bureau chief at Newsweek magazine, said US media were "dying".
"After 25 years as a foreign correspondent I know what the US wants from the rest of the world: to forget about it."
"There's this idea that the US media is controlling the agenda. In fact the US media is dying. Resources, money and staff are being cut back. Twenty years ago Newsweek had 25 staff in Paris, today it has one: me," said Mr Dickey. [Emphasis added]
Although both of these members of the US press were talking about providing world news in general, and about providing news on the war in Iraq in specific, their assessments also reflect on the news media when it comes to covering domestic issues.
Most newspapers and television news outlets are now owned by just a few mega-corporation. As a result, content is driven by the bottom line. Over the past year, most news outlets (television and print media as well) have announced cutbacks of staff responsible for gathering and writing the news.
Equally as important is the fact that embedding the troops with military units was a journalistic disaster, as Amy Goodman pointed out, just as "embedding" journalists in the White House via anonymous sourcing has not served the public. We are seeing and reading just what the current regime wants us to see and read. There is very little other sourcing.
While it was refreshing to read Ms. Goodman's and Mr. Dickey's candid assessment, it was somewhat disheartening that the article did not appear in the NY Times, Washington Post, or any other major newspaper. It came not from the Manchester (New Hampshire) Guardian, but from the British Guardian.
We are being cheated.
Arabic-language media have an unprecedented chance to take over as the world's premier news source because trust in their US counterparts plummeted following their "shameful coverage" of the war in Iraq, a conference heard today.
The US media reached an "all-time low" in failing to reflect public opinion and Americans' desire for trusted information, instead acting as a "cheerleader" for war, said Amy Goodman, the executive producer and host of US TV and radio news show Democracy Now!, at a news forum organised by al-Jazeera.
Newsweek's Paris bureau chief, Christopher Dickey, said the US media were dying because of cutbacks and weren't interested in covering the world outside America.
...Ms Goodman said in the run-up to the Iraq war a study of NBC, CBS, ABC and PBS newscasts over a fortnight recorded 393 interviews on the conflict, of which only three reported the anti-war movement.
"This is a media cheerleading for war and does not represent mainstream opinion in the US," she added.
Ms Goodman said she believed the policy of embedding reporters with coalition forces was "a total failure for independent journalism ... western audiences need to see the other side of the story - from communities and hospitals".
"If people in the US had a true picture of war - dead babies, women with their legs blown off, dead and dying soldiers - they would say 'no'," she said.
"There is nothing more important than the media - it is more powerful than any bomb or missile and we have to take it back ... we need a media that is independent and honestly showing us the images, the hell, ugliness and brutality of war, not selling us war."
Mr Dickey, the Middle East regional editor and Paris bureau chief at Newsweek magazine, said US media were "dying".
"After 25 years as a foreign correspondent I know what the US wants from the rest of the world: to forget about it."
"There's this idea that the US media is controlling the agenda. In fact the US media is dying. Resources, money and staff are being cut back. Twenty years ago Newsweek had 25 staff in Paris, today it has one: me," said Mr Dickey. [Emphasis added]
Although both of these members of the US press were talking about providing world news in general, and about providing news on the war in Iraq in specific, their assessments also reflect on the news media when it comes to covering domestic issues.
Most newspapers and television news outlets are now owned by just a few mega-corporation. As a result, content is driven by the bottom line. Over the past year, most news outlets (television and print media as well) have announced cutbacks of staff responsible for gathering and writing the news.
Equally as important is the fact that embedding the troops with military units was a journalistic disaster, as Amy Goodman pointed out, just as "embedding" journalists in the White House via anonymous sourcing has not served the public. We are seeing and reading just what the current regime wants us to see and read. There is very little other sourcing.
While it was refreshing to read Ms. Goodman's and Mr. Dickey's candid assessment, it was somewhat disheartening that the article did not appear in the NY Times, Washington Post, or any other major newspaper. It came not from the Manchester (New Hampshire) Guardian, but from the British Guardian.
We are being cheated.
posted by Diane at 4:44 AM
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