Thursday, March 23, 2006

ABC News Answers Concerns About Iraq Bias

Whilst reading the info about Bin Laden and Saddam communicating and WMDS and other fun terrorist stuff, this post at ABC caught my attention. It seems that ABC News decided to ask the source (the watching public) if they believed President Bush's assertion that the Western media was being used by terrorists as a propaganda arm was true. The MSM is, of course, closing ranks. Their professionalism is offended.

The viewers respond to ABC:

"I ask you this from the bottom of my heart, for a solution to this, because it seems that our major media networks don't want to portray the good," a woman from West Virginia asked President Bush at a recent town hall.

Teena from Wisconsin agreed.

"If we have the capabilities of the media and we can see the blood, bombs, killing and horror, shouldn't we also see the teaching, cleanup, building, training of soldiers … and the many other great things I know our soldiers are doing for us?" she wrote.

Many of the postings expressed a desire to get a better sense of the reconstruction effort, and the improvements in daily life for Iraqis.

"I think you should cover how many women are now allowed to work, how many kids are now enrolled in school and excelling," wrote Renee from Kirtland Air Force Base in Albuquerque, N.M.

Mary Mutschler's son is in the Navy. She wrote from Oregon: "We need to hear about deaths, and what's going on as far as that's concerned. But we need to hear what's going good also."

Good luck to ABC on presenting a more balanced picture. If they choose to do it, as galling as it will be for a network who clearly believes that the War is Wrong, their ratings will go up and the notion that they are at least attempting a fair perspective will be bolstered.

When the media so clearly desires to portray one side, people automatically pull the other direction. If they present a more rounded picture, people will have the information to make a decision, and who knows maybe the Anti-War movement will grow which is just what they hope for anyway.

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