Covering the Whining

Last week I managed to catch the BookTV - Los Angeles Times Festival of Books round table dealing with "Covering War". We often hear about media bias in particular about proudly left leaning publications such as the Los Angeles Times. (I used to subscribe to the paper and found the entertainment section and the ads to be the most valuable sections.) But it is eye opening to witness their whining at its most blatant forums. The crowd was very sympathetic to the nonsensical charges that Chris Hedges leveled ('the administration is shown to be covering up things as proven by the lack of people in the Pentagon willing to come forward and blow the whistle') with cheers during the most ridiculous accusations. At least Mark Bowden (author of Black Hawk Down) tried to offer some balance which was a bit like throwing a wet towel on things. They seemed to agree to some degree that Fox News is 'pornographic' citing evidence such as FNN always presenting war in a cleansed fashion without the suffering. (I guess they don't watch Fox that much.) Some even admitted that it is not possible to separate journalism from your personal convictions so that it is not a matter of trying to suppress them but to embrace them. I guess that is why it is so important for some to prove their convictions at any cost. It also explains such irrational hatred of those that disagree with them.

Some of these clever people didn't stop at blaming the administration for our current ills the American people are also indicted as co-conspirators.

They have reason to whine - they are becoming less relevant every day. Forecast: increasing shrillness from the mass media and their co-conspirators.

Example: Amnesty International comparing the our camps in Guantanamo Bay to the old Soviet gulag. For a nice piece on this see Richard Bennett's blog.

Co-conspirator? Guilty as charged. Gulag? We should ask Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, I am pretty sure what he would say...

Description: Three author-journalists discuss their experiences reporting on wars around the world, their frustrations with the difficulty of getting access to information, and their assessments of how well the media are doing at covering war. From the 2005 Los Angeles Times Festival of Books on the campus of UCLA: Mark Bowden, author of "Black Hawk Down: A Story of Modern War"; Chris Hedges, author of "War is a Force That Gives Us Meaning"; and Terry McDermott, author of "Perfect Soldiers: The Hijackers - Who They Were, Why They Did It." The discussion is moderated by Marjorie Miller, Foreign Editor of the Los Angeles Times.

Author Bio: Mark Bowden is national correspondent for the Atlantic. Chris Hedges is a former New York Times correspondent. He is now the Ferris Professor of Journalism at Princeton University. Terry McDermott is a reporter for the Los Angeles Times. Marjorie Miller is foreign editor for the Los Angeles Times.

Sponsors: 
    Los Angeles Times Festival of Books
 
Appearances: 
    Bowden, Mark   -  Correspondent, Atlantic Monthly, National 
    Hedges, Chris   -  Professor, Princeton University, Journalism 
    McDermott, Terry   -  Correspondent, Los Angeles Times 
    Miller, Marjorie   -  Editor, Los Angeles Times, Foreign News 
 
Summary: 
     Three author-journalists participated in a panel titled "On the Front Lines: Covering War," and talked about their experiences reporting on wars around the world, their frustrations with the difficulty of getting access to information, and their assessments of media war coverage. Following their remarks they answered questions from the audience. The panelists were: Mark Bowden, author of Black Hawk Down: A Story of Modern War; Chris Hedges, author of War is a Force That Gives Us Meaning; and Terry McDermott, author of Perfect Soldiers: The Hijackers - Who They Were, Why They Did It. The discussion was moderated by Marjorie Miller. 

Comments

[Freeman]

Stuart,

Thanks for the great article. I have a cure for these whiners. They shall be sent to live in Saudi Arabia or Iran for 6 month (without their US passports) and experience the real life in the real world. I bet we will hear much less whining after that.

Freeman