Wednesday, October 12, 2005
Getting Iraq Right
Dadmanly has a very insightful look at reporting from Iraq. Seems that some bloggers think Milbloggers are little more than propogandists.
I think they are the greatest blessing our nation has had in a long time. Consider this quote from Dadmanly
The reporter almost universally reports bad news. But if you think about it for a minute -- that is true with domestic news as well as war coverage. Were I forced to evaluate the state of America based solely on newspaper and TV accounts, I would be forced to conclude that we live in a pretty raunchy hellhole - polluted beyond recognition -- people gunned down in the streets almost hourly -- corruption rules everything. So why, if that is the reporting we receive daily about ur own homes are we not in a state of complete revolt?
Simple, we experience "ground truth" through the course of our lives everyday. The journalists do not have complete control of our perception of reality.
There were huge differences in reporting between say, WWII and Vietnam, but there was also another difference. During Vietnam, it was possible to live your life realitively unaffected by it and have your entire perception shaped by newspaper and TV accounts. That was not true in WWII -- virtually every citizen had a close friend or relative doing the war-fighting job. "Ground truth" had an outlet in letters from the front and so forth; Vietnam had no outlet for "ground truth."
In the age of an all volunteer military, the desemination of ground truth is incredibly important and blogging has provided that possibility.
Press bias is real and pervasive, I do not dispute that, but even if it were not, there is a need for a balanced view of things, not just a journalistic view. That, in my opinion is the real beauty of blogging in this information age -- it is not necessarily a replacement for reporting, but rather an adjunct to it. In that adjunct role, it should improve reporting, but there will always but editorial necessity and human nature demands that "the news" almost always be negative. Ground truth balances that and blogging is the best outlet for ground truth yet conceived.
Milblogging is the best thing that hs arisen in this conflict. I honestly believe that wihtout it, sustained military operations would be rendered impossible for America
I think they are the greatest blessing our nation has had in a long time. Consider this quote from Dadmanly
It has everything to do with willful ignorance and misreporting of facts on the ground, "ground truth" as we say. We are here, and see what is to be seen every day. Many less reputable (and certainly less honorable) members of the press peddle falsehoods, actively promulgate propaganda from sworn enemies of the United States, hire Terrorist accomplices masquerading as "freelancers," and otherwise seek to turn every news report into a childish exercise of "how can we use this to make Bush look bad?"I tend to agree with that assessment, but let's remove the anti-Bush motivations from the equation and just look at the reporting.
The reporter almost universally reports bad news. But if you think about it for a minute -- that is true with domestic news as well as war coverage. Were I forced to evaluate the state of America based solely on newspaper and TV accounts, I would be forced to conclude that we live in a pretty raunchy hellhole - polluted beyond recognition -- people gunned down in the streets almost hourly -- corruption rules everything. So why, if that is the reporting we receive daily about ur own homes are we not in a state of complete revolt?
Simple, we experience "ground truth" through the course of our lives everyday. The journalists do not have complete control of our perception of reality.
There were huge differences in reporting between say, WWII and Vietnam, but there was also another difference. During Vietnam, it was possible to live your life realitively unaffected by it and have your entire perception shaped by newspaper and TV accounts. That was not true in WWII -- virtually every citizen had a close friend or relative doing the war-fighting job. "Ground truth" had an outlet in letters from the front and so forth; Vietnam had no outlet for "ground truth."
In the age of an all volunteer military, the desemination of ground truth is incredibly important and blogging has provided that possibility.
Press bias is real and pervasive, I do not dispute that, but even if it were not, there is a need for a balanced view of things, not just a journalistic view. That, in my opinion is the real beauty of blogging in this information age -- it is not necessarily a replacement for reporting, but rather an adjunct to it. In that adjunct role, it should improve reporting, but there will always but editorial necessity and human nature demands that "the news" almost always be negative. Ground truth balances that and blogging is the best outlet for ground truth yet conceived.
Milblogging is the best thing that hs arisen in this conflict. I honestly believe that wihtout it, sustained military operations would be rendered impossible for America
