3.31.2003
CHECKS AND BALANCES
I watched a fair amount of "Shock and Awe" from my hotel room last week. Between that and Basketball there was really not much else to choose from, and I really have no emotional attachment to hoops, one way or the other. It looks like the media casualties are strating to mount. Peter Arnette (Pulitzer Winner, former CNN correspondant, accused by the former Bush administration of feeding viewers Iraqi propaganda), most recently of NBC employ, was sent packing due to the "courtesy" of giving an interview to the state run Iraqi television network. Most people are going to be all over Peter for what he said, which was to explain how things were not going as smoothly as the coalition forcers were hoping. I personally have a separate issue that bothers me. I'm of the persuasion that says a reporter should never be part of the story. This is why the whole "Embedded" thing makes me cringe, seeing a field reporter geard up in his desert camo, probably never having spent a day in military training. This is why reporters should also only conduct, and never give interviews. There is a certain level of detachment that I feel is required to be a good reporter, but as news programming slowly festers into new lows of infotainment, I guess I can't be surprised that reporters see their oponions as more valuable than their ability to complete the Who, What, Where, When, Why, and How of a given situation. I have to say that giving Peter Arnette the boot was the right thing to do, I just doubt that NBC's reasons, and mine are not at all compatible with each other.
The next contestant to get voted off the Island was everyones favorite Al Capone vault opener. Geraldo Rivera. In my Mind Geraldo lost all credibility as a journalist long ago, but again there is that whol ratings game that news networks play now, and so Geraldo's charisma (if you must call it that) comes into play. Unfortunately, Geraldo's common sense didn't and after apparently spilling the beans on locations and plans of coalition forces, the U.S. military will be showing him the door - I half expect FOX to put him up in Kuwait or Syria or some other place that seems relevant but really isn't, just so they can justify putting him on air 5-7 minutes every hour of the prime time block. They should can his ass. Oh and they should also courtmartial the asshat who was giving him access to troop movement info. "Embedded" does not mean "Enlisted", so don't treat your reporter like a new recruit.
I'm looking forward to seeing how strange the relations between Pentagon, and Press Corps gets from here
go and tell me all about it
I watched a fair amount of "Shock and Awe" from my hotel room last week. Between that and Basketball there was really not much else to choose from, and I really have no emotional attachment to hoops, one way or the other. It looks like the media casualties are strating to mount. Peter Arnette (Pulitzer Winner, former CNN correspondant, accused by the former Bush administration of feeding viewers Iraqi propaganda), most recently of NBC employ, was sent packing due to the "courtesy" of giving an interview to the state run Iraqi television network. Most people are going to be all over Peter for what he said, which was to explain how things were not going as smoothly as the coalition forcers were hoping. I personally have a separate issue that bothers me. I'm of the persuasion that says a reporter should never be part of the story. This is why the whole "Embedded" thing makes me cringe, seeing a field reporter geard up in his desert camo, probably never having spent a day in military training. This is why reporters should also only conduct, and never give interviews. There is a certain level of detachment that I feel is required to be a good reporter, but as news programming slowly festers into new lows of infotainment, I guess I can't be surprised that reporters see their oponions as more valuable than their ability to complete the Who, What, Where, When, Why, and How of a given situation. I have to say that giving Peter Arnette the boot was the right thing to do, I just doubt that NBC's reasons, and mine are not at all compatible with each other.
The next contestant to get voted off the Island was everyones favorite Al Capone vault opener. Geraldo Rivera. In my Mind Geraldo lost all credibility as a journalist long ago, but again there is that whol ratings game that news networks play now, and so Geraldo's charisma (if you must call it that) comes into play. Unfortunately, Geraldo's common sense didn't and after apparently spilling the beans on locations and plans of coalition forces, the U.S. military will be showing him the door - I half expect FOX to put him up in Kuwait or Syria or some other place that seems relevant but really isn't, just so they can justify putting him on air 5-7 minutes every hour of the prime time block. They should can his ass. Oh and they should also courtmartial the asshat who was giving him access to troop movement info. "Embedded" does not mean "Enlisted", so don't treat your reporter like a new recruit.
I'm looking forward to seeing how strange the relations between Pentagon, and Press Corps gets from here
go and tell me all about it
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