Volume CXXXII, Number 18 March 28, 2003 f

American television at its worst
GREG T. SPIELBERG
ORIENT STAFF

While "Shock and Awe" is intended to damage Iraqi forces and willpower, the campaign has decimated American television media instead. The independent journalism of the Vietnam era has been replaced by the fict-o-news of private corporations and broadcasting systems. Fox, ABC, and NBC lead the charge in the oligarchy of information, holding hands with senior Washington officials for profit and propaganda.

Fox, a station founded on leftist principles and anti-establishment programming has gone from "Married With Children" to married to the mob. Anchors say "Bunker Buster" with naive amazement and are promoted by their ability to euphemize.

"The War on Terror" and "Iraqi Freedom" as its most popular monikers, Fox displays information like a 13-year old with his first taste of testosterone; Space-age graphics of cruise missiles and cartooned F-16s swerve across the screen every half hour.

An absence of military criticism from analysts and guests leaves viewers soaked in the pro-war sentiment. All other news hasn't taken a back seat, it's been thrown out the window along with any recognition of the Geneva Convention which states that information dictated by the military is illegal. On-location reporters with post-coital expressions on their faces finger the newest technology and play hide the microphone in night-vision goggles.

since 11/01/02 FastCounter by bCentral