On Fri, 2 Dec 2005 09:15:25 -0500, Mark Wonsil <[log in to unmask]> wrote: >> The "truth" that the military pays to be published in Iraqi newspapers? >> Surprise, surprise. The U.S. military has been caught with its hand in the >> cookie jar paying off Iraqi journalists to plant buttery stories about the >> slicing and dicing going on in that war-torn nation. > >Here's a review by the Columbia School of Journalism about the press >coverage during the first Gulf War: >http://archives.cjr.org/year/91/3/debrief-arnett.asp > >Getting the truth out of Iraq has never been easy. If you recall, all >journalists in Baghdad had a "minder" watching and approving every story. >Forget about paying to get stories into the nightly news casts, those >reporters were saying whatever the Iraqi officials wanted just to stay in >the country. > >IMHO, the best line in the article blasts every advocacy journalist, "A >journalist who decides that his job is to help win a war, rather than just >to describe it, is better off enlisting." (I would extend the comment "to >help win OR LOSE a war...") A good journalist shouldn't have to be paid to >report view or another, they should leave their biases at the door and >report EVERYTHING that they see regardless of whether or not it gets them >invited to next exclusive Washington/New York party. > >Mark W. Mark, I absolutely agree. The same should be done by the reader. Just because he doesn't like report A he shouldn't automatically dislike or not read report B. However that seems to be the case very often as well. Everybody makes mistakes and some even have the guts/nerve to admit that they made a mistake while others don't. Have a great weekend Michael * To join/leave the list, search archives, change list settings, * * etc., please visit http://raven.utc.edu/archives/hp3000-l.html *