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Viewers, listeners should be responsibly informed on war
Published:
Monday, March 24, 2003
For each stance on the war in Iraq there are the channels through which the information that feeds and supports these opinions travels. To consider oneself responsibly informed, it is important to maintain a wide range of sources and to constantly evaluate these sources and place them under scrutiny.
An interesting study can be made of the phenomenon of war coverage that will no doubt fill network programming time for weeks if not months to come.
Viewers strain their eyes at grainy night-images of far off explosions, hear an endless stream of commentary from military leaders, analysts and commentators virtually unknown to the public in times of peace.
One selection aired by the Fox News Network featured a speaker praising emphatically Bush's decision to strike at "targets of opportunity," and commending him and our nations military force for simultaneous engaging in war on two fronts (Iraq and Afghanistan).
With the flip of the dial a different message is found on C-SPAN. This time a correspondent stating that if the U.S. Government's goal in their initial strike was to kill Saddam Hussein, they have failed. You would be hard pressed to hear the word failure during a Fox News cast.
And there are still many other stations airing war coverage. With MTV throwing their hat in the ring with their coverage of "typical" Iraqi teens coping with the imminent war, and their convenient packaging of the war issue into an easily ingestible blurb, every network wants you watching their coverage. And it's easy to watch only the station that caters to your beliefs. What is difficult, however, is to subject yourself to all sides of the issue and to question both sides.
Always be wary of your sources: is the newscast you are watching trying to inform you or only keep your attention? Do you feel like you're watching a celebration of war, an anti-war protest or a simple neutral account of the proceedings?
These questions are invaluable in light of a media system where information is disseminated through a web of corporate interests. Keep in mind that the BBC and other outside sources are invaluable when constructing a complete portrait of the situation and never accept the message of any single organization as your only source.
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