Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Politics : Stockman Scott's Political Debate Porch -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Raymond Duray who wrote (15356)	3/24/2003 10:50:55 AM
From: abuelita	Respond to of 89467

Media in Canada balk at sanitizing war coverage Until yesterday, it had been a lovely war. We saw the spectacular pictures of the bombs exploding on Baghdad. Real-time reports showed the speed, power and effectiveness of the U.S.-led invasion into Iraq. But yesterday, the good news turned bad and, for the most part, U.S. television closed it down. Only one network, CBS, briefly carried video of the U.S. soldiers captured by the Iraqis. The news organizations appeared to be responding to pressure from the coalition's central command and a directive from the Pentagon. The military in Qatar denounced the footage as "disgusting" and in violation of the Geneva Conventions. The Pentagon sent out a directive asking the news media not to air or publish "recognizable images or audio recordings that identify prisoners of war." CNN subsequently told its viewers that it would not be showing the "disturbing" images. NBC, ABC and Fox also complied. The video, apparently, was shot by Iraqi state television and initially carried, with prisoner interviews, by the Arabic network Al-Jazeera. Al-Jazeera also aired footage showing dead U.S. soldiers. North American networks, deeming it offensive, did not, except for a still picture of some bodies below the waist. In Canada, the CBC made a decision to carry the prisoner-of-war footage. Last night, Global Television editor-in-chief Steve Wyatt said Global had not received the video but, in principle, he said, Global would give it the green light. Robert Hurst, the president of CTV News, said the network would show some of the tape, but show restraint. So, which side is right? The CBC or the networks that chose not to air the tape? Robert Thompson, director of the Centre for the Study of Popular Television at Syracuse University's Newhouse School, leans strongly toward putting it on the air. "Certainly, one of the reasons you have the Geneva Conventions is so this doesn't happen and people aren't subjected to certain kinds of humiliation and all of the rest of it," he said. "Secondly, if loved ones aren't notified yet, it would be horrible to turn on TV and see your own son or husband or whatever in a prison camp or worse before you've been told. "But for the networks to say these images are so disturbing that we're not going to show them, that always strikes me as weird. I mean, if you're going to tell a story of war, some of the things that happen, a lot of things, are ugly and disturbing." Tony Burman, the editor-in-chief of CBC News, said it was not a difficult decision to air the tape. "We felt it was important to get it out and felt it was part and parcel of the coverage." In today's Globe and Mail, the PoW pictures are displayed prominently on the front page. Globe editor-in-chief Edward Greenspon says the media can't be expected to pick and choose what to report. "It's not our job to sanitize the war nor to comply with the preferences of the Pentagon," Mr. Greenspon said. "Our job is to fully inform our readers of the good, the bad and the ugly. Our only reluctance relates to sensationalistic pictures that are not proportionate to the story they are conveying." Mr. Greenspon and Mr. Burman noted that there were no objections when pictures of Iraqi prisoners were shown earlier. "The biggest complaint from the Pentagon and [U.S. Secretary of Defence Donald] Rumsfeld seemed to be 'this is demoralizing,' " Mr. Burman said. "We can't be a part of that. "It was demoralizing 24 hours earlier for a lot of people who feel strongly for the Iraqi side to see all the Iraqis PoWs that were paraded in front of American and Western cameras." The CBC move did spark a strong reaction from viewers. "I think probably the majority have supported our decision," Mr. Burman said. "But there has been considerable e-mail from viewers who said: 'Why haven't you fallen into line with the American networks and all that.' " globeandmail.com