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USA Edition | Today Is Friday, September 3, 2010 |
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Afghan Children Remain Largely Unseen, Unheard, Uncovered
While Iran suffers a failing dictatorship, North Korea plays missile games, Iraq tests its full sovereignty, and Afghanistan consumes young British and American soldiers, this nation’s broadcast media, bereft of standards and absent responsible adults, serve only themselves with wall-to-wall Michael Jackson coverage.
Helmand Valley, Afghanistan
What Happens In Helmand Valley Matters In New York
War is hell. It kills, maims and radiates horrendous and foreboding sounds. Even in the darkness of Afghan night, the sounds arrive. Never-ending waves of explosions, gunshots and screams of anguish. Somewhere in the darkness, or ruins of battle silhouetted in immensely hot sunlight, those caught up in combat are disemboweled, limbs blown off, or disintegrated. Some of those dying in this desolated place are our brothers, daughters and loved ones. But, no matter the unspeakable violence, this war is not sufficiently entertaining for American television viewers to experience up close, and very personally.
Thus we are isolated from reality — all the better to sell prescription drugs, automobiles and notions of a nation at peace. While Iran suffers a failing dictatorship, North Korea plays missile games, Iraq tests its full sovereignty, and Afghanistan consumes young British and American soldiers, broadcast media, bereft of standards and absent responsible adults, serve-up wall-to-wall Michael Jackson coverage.
Nobody engages in combat for the fun of it. Modern warfare is a high stakes game. For the Taliban who seek to control Afghanistan’s long Helmand valley today’s battles are about regaining absolute control over everything and everyone. For the British and American troops now surging into Helmand province, the stakes are your safety and mine — for it is here, under Taliban control, that Osama Bin Laden set in motion the September 11th attacks on New York.
If It Ain’t On TV In America, It Ain’t Happening
In late June, fresh American troops arrived in Afghanistan to take back this desolate landscape from Taliban fighters who have been growing in strength while American military forces were preoccupied in the aftermath of the Iraq invasion. While the Afghan war has remained well covered by the print media in recent months, it is rarely seen on television. Covering the war is expensive. But there are broadcast journalists in the battle zone — among them NBC’s Richard Engel who has, perhaps more than any other broadcast journalist, covered the realities of battle with immense courage and skill.
Given the importance of the battles to take back control of the Taliban for western nations, especially the United States, what’s happening today in Afghanistan deserves hour-by-hour coverage, frequent from-the-field of battle bulletins and updates, in-depth analysis of American and British goals, assessment of the political realities at home, in Britain and in Kabul. Such coverage deserves presidential questioning, expanded Pentagon coverage and on-air military strategy and mission analysis by former commanders.
Do You Know Enough About Israeli Settlements In Palestinian Territory?
Based on it’s importance to your personal safety, this nation’s economic recovery, and whether or not your grand-children will live absent fear of terrorism, there are at least five stories as important as what’s happening in Afghanistan. Among them, senior editors mention the repressed instability in Iran, the perilous economic situation in the European Union, the departure of American troops from Iraq, and the intractable, some believe deteriorating conditions in the Israeli-Palestine conflict.
In The 21st Century, What’s Important Cannot Be Ignored
Afghanistan Spread Its Problems To Trinity Church September 11, 2001
While each of these stories is sporadically covered by broadcast media, the reality is that important news — that is stories about issues, situations, places and conflicts that are immensely important to north Americans and Britons are not well covered by commercial television news. What is known about these stories in the United States is due to excellent newspaper coverage ( including the AP ). While PBS’ MacNeil/Lerher News Hour typically covers all of these stories to a greater extent than all of the commercial networks added together, severely inadequate public funding for PBS fails to provide for anything close to the quality, depth and big-story coverage delivered by Britain’s BBC.