thoughtmechanics

After much thought and debate, some ’serious’ US media ‘outlets’ have decided that “Yep, it’s a civil war” in Iraq and, despite ‘objections’ by the White House, they are going to actually use that term in their reporting of the conflict there… Wow! Chalk one up for Democracy, Free Speech and Freedom of the Press.

Let’s face it, the very fact that this kind of discourse is taking place, that ‘media outlets’ such as the Washington Post and the New York Times are discussing whether to call a civil conflict that has killed more than 100 000 people over the last 3 years a civil war or not, is a reflection of the extent to which there is a serious deficit in the US of Democracy, Free Speech and Freedom of the Press.

If anything, the declaration by ‘media outlets’ to call it a civil war sounds like a declaration of independence. It sounds like there’s someone at the window shouting “I’ve had enough of this and I’m not going to take it anymore!”

What have these media executives had enough of? Why are they about a year or two behind the rest of the world in naming the civil war in Iraq a civil war? What is involved in this declaration of Independence? Were they not independent before? How much has the ‘war on terror’ in the US been a war of democracy, freedom and expression?

These are hard questions and I don’t think American media ‘outlets’ are ready to deal with them yet. Thankfully there is the Internet. There is no deficit of people there who are willing to both ask these questions or discuss them… Of course, there is also no deficit of people who take offence to these discussions. Someone recently commented on one of my posts at “Thought Mechanics” that people who do discuss such issues and disagree with the ‘patriotic’ point of view would be thrown in jail if they were living in bastions of freedom of expression, like Canada or the US. Why? Because these discussions incite hate!

Perhaps the tide is turning. Perhaps journalism will once again assume its proper role and begin reporting on what is happening rather than be the mouthpiece of administrations. But nah, most media ‘outlets’ are like franchise or chain ‘outlets’. Imagine if individual ‘outlets’ like McDonald’s or WalMart were to have an independent point of view and start to offer what they consider better ‘deals’ to their customers…the chains would break…