Okay, it’s time for a little Monday morning guessing game. Which member of the right-wing “lunatic fringe” wrote these lines to complain about media coverage of the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah?
The American media, of course, have presented the war in a more balanced fashion-but the “balance” of on-the-one-hand, on-the-other reporting is bogus. Truth simply doesn’t always reside in the middle. If that sounds odd, try this: The Japanese, on the one hand, were wrong to bomb Pearl Harbor, while the Americans, on the other, were wrong to bomb Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Need another clue?
Context, context. That’s precisely what’s missing in the media’s “balanced” reporting of the conflict. Television is especially problematic. The images we see on our screens may be factually accurate, but many represent a profound untruth, leaving viewers with a plethora of images of a shattered Lebanon and a surging Israeli military.
Still not sure? Perhaps the writer’s advice for the mainstream media will help.
The media must begin to recognize the fact that its familiar formulas for integrity just don’t work in this new world that is anything but brave.
Give up? The author of these lines is none other than Mortimer B. Zuckerman, editor of mainstream media outlet U.S. News & World Report, in this week’s new column.
