The Military and The Media

I find that when I speak or write that often what people hear me say is very different than I intended. That is one of the wonderful things about blogging, that I get honest feedback and I can retool my message to better convey my idea. I wish it came more naturally to me, but perhaps with patience I will find my voice.

I am the wife of a US military member. When I watch the news coming out of the US I am often frustrated by the way the US Military members are portrayed. The other day watching Larry King, when the caller from Ohio asked her question about why the media is honoring a journalist who was wounded more than the service members I was thinking to myself, Yeah! Exactly! And the answers given were incredibly frustrating to me.

Showing video footage of the coffins of service members, showing wounded service members in a hospital, showing the planes crashing into the World Trade Center, those are powerful images used to convey political messages. Those images are sensational and capture a viewers attention, boost ratings and make tons of money for journalists, but are these images the whole story? Showing these images to the enemy is detrimental to the military giving power and momentum to the enemy. They don’t have a chance at all and giving them false hope with a few sensationalized images just prolongs the war and harms the US military and Iraqi people. Listening to the panel of some of the most powerful and influential members of the US media on Larry King it seems that is exactly what they think, that if they cannot show the coffins their hands are tied and they cannot tell a story. The fact that this is the only story they see disgusts me.

Bob Woodruff went to Iraq as a journalist to help inform the American people about what is really going on in Iraq. The media is an incredibly important facet of a free society. We are currently split in our country about what to do in Iraq. Should we have invade? Should we stay or go? The media is supposed to be presenting us with a fair and balanced description of both sides of the argument. To help us see past the rhetoric of people with a specific agenda and to see the commonalities and differences of both sides of the debate. To help us make informed choices in who we vote for and what questions we ask. Instead they are showing us sensationalism. I don’t see any fair and balanced journalism coming out of America. Having said that, I still respect Bob Woodruff for his attempt to bring us this story. All the media coverage of his getting wounded focused on him as a man and a journalist and none of it focused on the politics of should we be in Iraq. Why can’t the media offer the service members the same respect, without agenda or sensationalism?

Instead of hearing 5 killed, 7 wounded in a road side bombing in Iraq today. Portraying the events in this way has a certain amount of political sway, it makes a statement, it plays on the emotions and encourages the position to pull out of Iraq. It isn’t fair or balanced journalism. It isn’t respecting the job being done or the people doing that job, it is sensationalism. I would like to hear stories that are respectful of the people and the job they do, stories without sensationalism and without a political slant. For instance, 5 people from such and such unit were hit by a road side bomb today. This unit is out of this state, they have been in Iraq for this long, they have accomplished this many missions, including this, this and this. Today they were on their way to do this and were wounded in action. Their injuries are major or minor, they will be sent to Germany for evaluation, their family is hoping they will make a speedy recovery and be able to get back to the job they love. That is pretty much the story they told of Bob Woodward, showing respect for someone’s accomplishments and gratitude without making it political or sensational. It isn’t that the journalists don’t have access to this information, I see these stories everyday because like the media I have access to the military’s journalism. The stories that come from the military are certainly biased in that they are designed with the intention of showing all the positive reasons we are in Iraq. And to show all the positive things we are accomplishing. While that is not the entire story it is at least a large part of the story, a part that is not currently being aired. I think that when people complain about hearing the number of people dead and wounded every night on the news this is why they are complaining, that only one side of the story is being told. Both sides should be told, but in reality neither side is being told, all that is shown is the sensationalism.

Like my friend Angel said, sending a journalist with no combat training into a war zone is another showing of disrespect for the level of training and accomplishment of the men and women serving in Iraq. Do journalist with no fire training run into a burning building to get footage of a fireman doing his job?

The men and women in the military represent the best and brightest, the strongest and most courageous Americans. There are over a million of them. They all have different political opinions and motivations for being in the military. The media can show respect for the job they do without indicting or condoning the war. The fact that the most influential journalists of America sat on the panel on the Larry King show and said that without caskets or a famous reporter their isn’t a story to tell is the epitome of greed. This tunnel vision of journalism for sensationalism only is one of the major reasons we (Americans) are so hated around the world. This greed for viewers attention instead of fair and balanced journalism is not representative of the American public. It is only a representation of the corruption and greed in the media, but it is the American that the world sees. So I was upset in the way the military is presented by the media on a day to day basis. Now I am furious that it is intentionally being done. Without the blood dripping from the coffin, the military is inconsequential to American journalists.

See the post below if you want links to the Larry King show or transcript of the show.