Why is there so much negative news about the War in Iraq? Are the members of the Broadcasting community reporting or trying to create news. Why would they intentionally make things look bad?
I get increasingly upset at how "News Organizations" portray things overseas. The accounts that we see on the nightly television are so dramatically different than those views and stories from dozens of Military Personnel that I have talked with.
The Media NEEDS for this to be bad news, they need for it to fail. They are not in the business of reporting any longer. The Broadcasters are driven by the bottom line, yes MONEY. Let's face it, if you heard a one of those 30 second news updates that said "Everything is fine, more on that at 11," would you make sure that you watched at 11? Of course not. But if that same 30 second news update said something like "Protest in Iraq, 2 dead, more at 11." Now would you have a reason to tune in? YES.
This all goes to how a broadcaster makes money. Certainly, he does not get money from you and me, TV is FREE. Where does the HUGE amount of cash come from to hire all of those reporters and send them out with cameras crews so that they can "Report Live at 11" from the front of closed business and schools. Well it comes from advertisers. How does a broadcaster know what to charge an advertiser and why would an advertiser pay more for his commercial to be on channel 4 or 7 or 10? That is ratings. The higher the ratings the more expensive the ad is. That is why a Superbowl Commercial costs over 2 million dollars.
So BAD news is in the financial best interest of the Broadcaster. Would the Media pass over good stories of successes and hundreds of happy Iraqis in favor of showing a story about how one family lost a son in a truck bombing. You bet they would. The various channels and programs are all fighting over who watches them. Each one needs to make you think that you can not go to bed at night without tuning in to their broadcast.
If the Media can convince the People of this Great Nation of ours that his is just another Vietnam and we need to get out. Then the people of Iraq lose, America loses, Great Britain loses, and the World loses. There are two winners, Al Queda and the Media both make out big time. How can the Medii win if the war is over? I can answer that in one word - HEARINGS. If it was all wrong and all bad would the people not want to watch TV to see WHY that all happend? Who should lose their job over this. Who was at fault? Who lied?
I want to finish by saying that I am unhappy about any loss of life, especially those that have willingly put themselves in Harm's Way to protect and preserve the American Way of Life. When Congress voted and gave the President the go ahead to remove Saddam Hussein from power, the Pentagon's estimate of loss of troops for the action was 10,000 - 20,000 troops. Our Congressmen and Senators all new that estimate and were willing to accept it when they voted.
We need to put this back in perspective. The success has been outstanding. It is truly unbelievable that we have only lost 700+ in a one year long action. This is a credit to those that planned and orchestrated the military action. If we compare this to our WW2 liberation of France we lost 749 American troops in a singe day during Exercise Tiger. This was a PRACTICE D-DAY LANDING involving 3,000 ships and 30,000 infantrymen. During training, the operation was ambushed by the Nazis.
For an even more chilling perspective, Chicago lost 648 people in 2002 to murder, 665 in 2001. How can one peaceful American city with 13,782 (2002 figure) sworn Police Officers and lots of gun control have almost as much death as our liberation of a complete Country at War Time?
Think about it.
Mark Calzaretta
Certified Firearms Instructor
Endowment (Life) Member NRA
Life Member NAHC
Member LEAA
SWCA #1597
SASS #42026 "J.R. Swackhammer"
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