Editorializing the news...

[cynatnite]

I just finished watching Journalists at War on Discovery Times. Toward the end of the show the point was made that the censorship of war isn't due to taste, but for public opinion. If the public saw war in all it's graphic bloody killing then any support for it would slip away.

One journalist observed the military and media scream about respect for the dead. He appeared a little flabbergasted and said something along the lines of 'there was no respect for them when they were killed'.

I intentionally avoid graphic photos when on the internet. The reason being is I saw enough when I worked as a medic in the Army, an EMT and as an ER Tech. I've seen the horrible things people can do to one another. The makers of this documentary showed the ugly side of war. :(

But much of the public hasn't. If they saw five minutes of Al Jazeera footage from the Iraq war, they would see the dead innocent and how high the cost of war truly is. It takes a growing death toll to get public attention, IMO, but the body of a child could turn public opinion into demands for an end to the violence.

[HereSince1628]

1. It's a great excuse, but I don't know if it's valid.

The sample size is awfully small and we haven't actually fought in a war that the US people were REALLY committed to winning in a long time.

I suspect as a nation the public wouldn't mind pictures of bloodied enemies at all.

[GeorgeGist]

2. Speak for yourself...

but thankfully I don't see anything worthwhile in your point of view.

[HereSince1628]

4. I'm fine with that.

But, why would the movie producers be selling this stuff if it wasn't popular? And the old newsreel footage now available on "military" channels often shows real carnage...usually of the "enemy" including for example the horrific sight of dead, burned and dismembered bodies of Japenese being pulled out of cave openings. Why would this stuff be programmed 24/7? Because the vision of dead enemies still sells.

Unfortunate? Yes, absolutely. But reality suggests it's true.

[cynatnite]

3. The media does a hell of a lot of influencing public opinion...

Most of the WWII footage I've ever seen is of soldiers fighting. There is very little in the way of actual graphic footage unless you count the holocaust. That imagery outraged the world.

There is a photo from Vietnam of a boy who is half-burned that made an imprint on the world.

The precedence is there, but the willingness to sanitize the news for whatever reason has really harmed us, IMO. The realism of war is kept from the public and I think that's mostly why support for this war has lasted as long as it did. It took large numbers of death and continued bad news to drag down support.

Flag-draped coffins and images of dead children have become taboo to our detriment, IMO.