ONCE WAS NOT ENOUGH
By Cori Dauber
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ABC tonight says that "violence is still simmering in Iraq." Of course their proof for this is not increased terrorist attacks, increased attacks from the insurgency, or more hostages taken. No, their idea of "violence simmering" is American attacks on terrorist safe houses in Fallujah.
Right after that pronouncement, they do something stunning. You'll recall (since it was only last night) my bemoaning their willingness to air a tape obtained first by the Time magazine correspondent who has embedded with the insurgency in Fallujah. Tonight they reair the video. Just reair it, as if it hadn't been on once. I guess the fact that it aired on a night when their ratings were likely to be low means they get to just put the same damn footage on one more time, without ever mentioning the fact that they've already used the footage and aired the story. They use a different expert tonight, and he too says the tape is "a seductive and very persuasive tool" for recruitment. Great, lets show some more of the damn thing. But, hey, tonight at least they do concede that it out and out proves that the administration's right that there are outside jihadists in the country.
And of course now that ABC has aired it, you don't think any other network that gets the same footage will hesitate for a second, do you? Of course not.
And so, once again, while none of these high class outfits
would consider a still from a beheading video, or would
even show the images of the Americans killed in Fallujah
several months ago without cropping, pixellating or
otherwise editing the images beyond recognition, they're
happy to air what they themselves identify as terrorist
recruiting videos centered on footage of attacks in which
innocent civilians were killed. No anguish, no angst, no
deep introspection explained to the viewer. Just, hey,
look what we got!
NBC, for what it's worth, specifically identifies the tape during its story as "incitement, propaganda, recruitment." Grand.
If they want to get on their high horse, that's fine. But some of us thought they should show single still photographs. They wouldn't do that -- but they're happily and with no apparent compunctions airing big chunks out of videos specifically made for propaganda and recruitment purposes.
Where's their finely developed sense of moral restraint now? Because I'd like an explanation of how they rectify these two positions. I wanted a glimpse of their true nature, not free media time for their message as they designed and produced it.<font size=3>
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