Embedded media loses objectivity

editorial cartoon by Christian A. Lopez
editorial cartoon by Christian A. Lopez

With news channels in all-war-all-the-time mode, it’s hard to miss the play-by-play media coverage of the controversial Gulf War II, thanks to the Pentagon’s clever program of embedding reporters with America’s troops.

According to Webster’s New World Dictionary, to embed means, “to set or fix firmly in a surrounding mass.” What an eloquent way of describing the way today’s war journalists are operating.

Quite literally, the media are asking for trouble when defenseless journalists are embedded into an all out war. Who knows what may happen?

The media are supposed to be agents of fair and objective journalism. Frankly, how will journalists manage to be balanced when embedding means traveling with, eating with, jumping in fox holes with, putting on gas masks with and fearing for their lives with the military? Indeed, objectivity in news reporting seems to have taken a back seat all together.

Is it tasteful for the media to change their role from watchdogs intent on covering the truth, to avid supporters ­ lapdogs, really ­ for the president’s cause?

Our news media have become cheerleaders, essentially. There is no other word to describe the embarrassing way the media is freely advertising support for George W. Bush’s future presidency plans.

How many stories have we seen in the 24-seven newscasts of Iraqi civilians, or even actual numbers of casualties from both sides? The numbers, if any, are shown too far and between each other.

Instead of remaining unbiased and giving the public both sides of what is really going on in Iraq, reporters seem to be advocating for U.S. benefit alone.

So what, you may ask, is the problem? Supporting the United States should be considered a good thing, right?

Not when one is supposed to be an agent of the truth.

The truth is that the public is denied the whole picture as the media continue to put themselves in danger and cater to the images and emphatic stories about how right and brave we are, which no doubt Bush and the Pentagon deem appropriate.

What if more drastic measures are taken toward enemy soldiers and civilians than we know? What if we are not as successful as Bush wishes us to believe?

In previous wars, with some exception, the media were denied such access. The resources were limited, and so digging up the truth was required.

But in this war, the Pentagon has given unprecedented access. What journalist can resist a chance to get embedded with the troops and report from the center of it all?

How are the journalists supposed to be unbiased in their reporting if they have to rely on the troops for protection?

Also, given that the journalists are still civilians throughout their ordeal, what will they be like when they return home?

Perhaps they will return with mental images best forgotten, or worse, perhaps they may never return at all.

Critics say one of the main reasons Bush is allowing the media such personal and direct access is because he is vying for support for an unpopular cause. Unlike Bush’s father, who achieved remarkable success on his public relations campaign for support on the first Gulf War, Bush junior didn’t even ask America’s opinion. He made the mistake of heading right in, but this time he took the media along with him.

Gaining the trust and support of the media would mean not repeating the mistakes of Vietnam, where reporters were often wont to express discomfort at the depressing situation of which they were required to study before covering on air or in print.

Now with Bush freely dictating the media, what the public sees on television and reads in the newspapers, although big accomplishments, are in reality nothing more than slight forms of propaganda.

There has to be more to what we see and read everyday. There always is. And if we, the public, continue to be bombarded by one-sided stories, how else are we going to know whether this war is really for our best interest, and if it will end… soon.

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Unsigned editorials represent the opinion of the Campus Times Editorial Board.

Christian A. Lopez, Staff Writer
Christian A. Lopez

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