1. Not long ago, we shared dinner with a friend who is an ardent supporter of President Bush. Eventually, the topic of conversation turned to Iraq. "It’s creepy," I said. "Clearly, families who have sent soldiers or lost loved ones know the war is going on. But if you were an outside observer, just driving down the street or listening casually to the news, I doubt you’d know America was at war at all."
I meant this comment to be an indictment of the Bush administration’s policy of suppressing any war coverage that might stir up anti-war sentiments (and the American press’ slack-jawed refusal to challenge this policy). Our friend, however, balked. "You want us to be affected by the war? I’d say the fact that most of us aren’t affected by it is a sign of just how well our government is handling it."
At the time, I was too stunned to make any kind of effective response.
2. Yesterday, USA Today ran an article about the power of television. In the wake of Hurricane Katrina, our government has made a series of bizarre assertions:
– "No one knew the leeves would breach." This, despite the fact that there are literally dozens of studies and articles that have long predicted this outcome.
– "We’ve not received any confirmation that there are dead bodies at the Superdome." This, despite the fact we’d been seeing bodies on CNN for days.
– "FEMA and other federal assistance workers are delivering aid even now." This, despite the fact that report after report confirmed that people in New Orleans and on Mississippi’s coast were dying for lack of federal aid.
– "No one can get into New Orleans." This, despite the fact that Harry Connick, Jr. and a slew of reporters were broadcasting live from Canal Street daily.
– "FEMA is doing a great job on the Mississippi Gulf Coast," Haley Barbour tells us. This, despite the fact that reporter after reporter, including Robin Roberts of Good Morning America, continues to document and broadcast the absense of any such support.
Vivid, on-the-spot television coverage — often clumsy, mostly unedited — is exposing the truth about what has happened on the coast. The pictures tell an undeniable story of continued neglect and inadequate response.They have polarized the public; they have generated an outcry.
For the first time in five years, the press is awake: asking questions, challenging talking points, calling our government’s talking heads out when they spout platitudes instead of telling the truth.
It’s what the press should do.
3. The Katrina disaster reveals what can happen when the government doesn’t get the opportunity to sterilize what Americans see and hear. When’s the last time you saw heart-wrenching photos of dead soldiers in
Iraq? When’s the last time you saw a newstory on a family torn apart by
the death of their father or brother? How long has it been since you
saw footage, shot on the front lines, detailing what the war in Iraq is
really like?
There’s a reason the Bush administration has fought (successfully) to keep unapproved footage of Iraq off the airwaves. There’s a reason the Bush administration has refused to place the President in the path of uncontrolled, unedited questions from the press. There’s a reason the Bush administration doesn’t want us to see pictures of the flag-draped coffins being returned from Iraq. There’s a reason the body count is being reported as nothing more than a vague series of numbers.
The government knows that vivid television footage helped turn public opinion against the war in Viet Nam. The government knows that graphic coverage of the underbelly of the war in Iraq will do the same.
And so, under the guise of "insulating Americans" from the terrible impact of war, our government clamps down on any and all news coverage that would cast that conflict in a negative light.
4. My prayer is that the press, emboldend by the backbone they seem to have rediscovered in the wake of Katrina, will begin to ask the same tough questions about Iraq. When government officials spout identical talking points, I hope the press will call them on it. If the government tries to repress video footage of what the war is really like, I hope the press will fight to capture it … and air it, regardless of the consequences.
Katrina has taught us how far our leaders will go to repress the truth when they perceive the truth is not in their own best interest … but she has also reminded us of the sacred mission of the free press: their responsiblity to strip away the whitewash and show Americans the truth.
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