Fire the Media

The following is an excerpt from an article written by LTC Tim Ryan. He is the Commander of Task Force 2-12 Cavalry, First Calvary Division in Iraq. He led troops into battle in Fallujah late last year and is now involved in security operations for the upcoming elections. His main point is that the media is distorting the facts about the war in Iraq and misleading the public about what is going on. This deception and constant bashing of Coalition efforts by the media is actually having a detrimental effect on our troops’ morale and international support for our efforts while bolstering the resolve of the terrorists. For this reason, it is important that we get the word out about what is going on.

The operation in Fallujah is only one of the recent examples of incomplete coverage of the events in Iraq. The battle in Najaf last August provides another. Television and newspapers spilled a continuous stream of images and stories about the destruction done to the sacred city, and of all the human suffering allegedly brought about by the hands of the big, bad Americans. These stories and the lack of anything to counter them gave more fuel to the fire of anti-Americanism that burns in this part of the world. Those on the outside saw the Coalition portrayed as invaders or oppressors, killing hapless Iraqis who, one was given to believe, simply were trying to defend their homes and their Muslim way of life.
Such perceptions couldn't be farther from the truth. What noticeably was missing were accounts of the atrocities committed by the Mehdi Militia — Muqtada Al Sadr's band of henchmen. While the media was busy bashing the Coalition, Muqtada's boys were kidnapping policemen, city council members and anyone else accused of supporting the Coalition or the new government, trying them in a kangaroo court based on Islamic Shari'a law, then brutally torturing and executing them for their "crimes." What the media didn't show or write about were the two hundred-plus headless bodies found in the main mosque there, or the body that was put into a bread oven and baked. Nor did they show the world the hundreds of thousands of mortar, artillery and small arms rounds found within the "sacred" walls of the mosque. Also missing from the coverage was the huge cache of weapons found in Muqtada's "political" headquarters nearby. No, none of this made it to the screen or to print. All anyone showed were the few chipped tiles on the dome of the mosque and discussion centered on how we, the Coalition, had somehow done wrong. Score another one for the enemy's propaganda machine...
…The inaccurate picture [print and media journalists] paint has distorted the world view of the daily realities in Iraq. The result is a further erosion of international support for the United States' efforts there, and a strengthening of the insurgents' resolve and recruiting efforts while weakening our own. Through their incomplete, uninformed and unbalanced reporting, many members of the media covering the war in Iraq are aiding and abetting the enemy. (emphasis mine)

The main stream media actually lost credibility with me about 15 years ago, when I was a pro-life activist and I would participate in an event, then go home and see it on TV or read about it in the paper the next day and barely recognize the coverage as being the same event I was involved in. I just quit paying attention to anything they said as I couldn’t trust them to be even close to accurate. We don’t own a TV, and we don’t subscribe to any newspapers. If I want to know something I try to get it from the source, or as close to the source as possible. For example, if I want to know what the President said in his radio address last week, I go to the White House home page and read the transcript word for word. Because of the internet, I can do this. So can you.

Crazy Diamond started really getting into the political blogs around the time of the election. He would read me the comments people posted as they were watching the election coverage on TV. It seemed to me everyone who posted comments about how biased against Bush the various media personalities were already know the media is biased and does distort facts to fit their agenda. But in order to post these comments, people have to be watching TV. It’s this that has disturbed me ever since. If the media has betrayed our trust, as so many people are now saying, then they do not deserve to be in business as our primary source of news. They need to be given the pink slip. How do we do this? Well, my understanding is that the bread and butter of the media is advertising. The bread and butter of advertising is the possibility of reaching people with their ads. The advertisers that advertise on these major news networks don’t care what the viewers think of the news they’re watching as long as they are also watching the commercials and therefore possibly being influenced to buy the product advertised. It’s not going to bother an advertiser if even a large number of viewers of a particular station post negative feedback about what they are watching on their favorite conservative political blog.

What is going to bother the advertisers, however, is if those viewers disappeared, meaning, they quit watching the show. No viewers equals no ability to promote products. No ability to promote products equals no advertising. No advertising equals no money for the news networks. No money means they have to close up shop, which then means they won’t be able to negatively impact the outcome of something as important as our efforts to stabilize the Middle East. I believe this is something that needs to happen, and we can all do our part to make it happen. Just stop watching the news networks that skew the news and stop reading the newspapers and magazines that do the same.

If you aren’t convinced that the media is doing us harm, as this soldier is claiming, then by all means, keep on watching/reading until you do become convinced. But if you are already convinced as I am, then what are you waiting for? FIRE them. Cancel your subscriptions, stop watching them on your TVs.

Read the entire article by LTC Tim Ryan
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