curtoid
03-24-2003, 01:17 PM
PARTISANS ON BOTH SIDES DENOUNCE TV COVERAGE
As the war in Iraq moved into its fifth day, criticism of television's coverage has
escalated from both the right and the left. Saturday's New York Times quoted Eric
Alterman, author of What Liberal Media? as charging that public "support for this war is
in part a reflection that the media has allowed the Bush administration to get away
with misleading the American people."
At the same time, the conservative Media Research Center posted a summary of ABC's
war coverage on its website titled "Peter's [Jennings] Peace Platoon: ABC's Crusade
Against 'Arrogant' American Power."
But Conrad Smith, chairman of the Department of Communications and Mass Media at
the University of Wyoming, told the Casper Star-Tribune: "Certainly, when a war
starts, to my dismay, it becomes unpatriotic to make any criticism of any decisions
about war. But I don't think that's a media bias -- I think that's a cultural bias. ... I
guess everybody thinks that a report that doesn't include their viewpoint is on the
other side of the political spectrum, but I think it's a crock. Most news organizations, I
think, are very mainstream and very centrist."
Nevertheless, they appear not to be clarifying the issues of the war adequately to the
American public, the Times suggested on Saturday, pointing out that a recent New
York Times/CBS News Poll showed that nearly half of Americans wrongly believe that
Saddam Hussein was personally involved in the Sept. 11 attacks and a poll taken by
Knight Ridder indicates that half the public believes that Iraqis were among
As the war in Iraq moved into its fifth day, criticism of television's coverage has
escalated from both the right and the left. Saturday's New York Times quoted Eric
Alterman, author of What Liberal Media? as charging that public "support for this war is
in part a reflection that the media has allowed the Bush administration to get away
with misleading the American people."
At the same time, the conservative Media Research Center posted a summary of ABC's
war coverage on its website titled "Peter's [Jennings] Peace Platoon: ABC's Crusade
Against 'Arrogant' American Power."
But Conrad Smith, chairman of the Department of Communications and Mass Media at
the University of Wyoming, told the Casper Star-Tribune: "Certainly, when a war
starts, to my dismay, it becomes unpatriotic to make any criticism of any decisions
about war. But I don't think that's a media bias -- I think that's a cultural bias. ... I
guess everybody thinks that a report that doesn't include their viewpoint is on the
other side of the political spectrum, but I think it's a crock. Most news organizations, I
think, are very mainstream and very centrist."
Nevertheless, they appear not to be clarifying the issues of the war adequately to the
American public, the Times suggested on Saturday, pointing out that a recent New
York Times/CBS News Poll showed that nearly half of Americans wrongly believe that
Saddam Hussein was personally involved in the Sept. 11 attacks and a poll taken by
Knight Ridder indicates that half the public believes that Iraqis were among