Thursday, November 16, 2006

Self-Censorship

From Brinda's comment: "the media in the US is accused of self-censorship etc... what do you think about that?"

Well it is definitely true. In fact that is the reason why American people should not be blamed for the choices of their government because essentially their news is censored. Then the question becomes, who does the censorship? The government, the media itself?
It's a combination of both no? If the government has the attitude of either for us or against us, what does that do for free speech? Is it possible to even have free speech in such a climate?

Check out the following article that describes how the 'lack' of censorship in the Lebonan/Israel war a couple of months ago led to the final defeat of Israel. Similar thing happened in the Vietnam war right? Although I think the Iraq war is much more complicated because in addition to the US, you have the Iraqi factions that are waging war against each other. The civil war has muddied the waters, so it is difficult to blame US entirely.

So the bottom line for me is, the media does get censored but its censorship is the result of a combination of factors including that of its self.

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Btw if you get discovery channel, there is supposed to be a documentary by Ted Koppel on this sunday at 9pm e.t. on Iran. Should be good to watch.
I saw Koppel on the daily show last night and i really like his balanced views. Check him out here.

3 comments:

Kanmi the Conqueror said...

"In fact that is the reason why American people should not be blamed for the choices of their government because essentially their news is censored"

OH COME ON!!!!! They elect them, or if not, they let them go as if nothing.

A Fly on the Wall said...

Don't be too harsh on them. The news that the average person gets has been censored many times over.

Kanmi the Conqueror said...

But they don't even care about the news, they pretend to do so, but not really.