Page 60 - ThePhoenix1990-91

Page 4 Western Maryland College February 14, 1991 Editorial: A Free Editorial: Military Censorship- Press? Where? Freedom Includes Responsibility Pat Blackman reservists across the country who .lenn Scott There is plenty of subject are rcfusingtcreport to the Great Article 1- Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the rnatter for people of good con- Massacre. free exercise thereof; or abridging thefreedom of speech, or of the press, or of the right of the people science to consider concerning We see detailed coverage of to peacefuJly assemble. and to petition the Governmentfor a redress of grievances. this madness we call war. And even the smallest pro-war dem- As Americans we take certain rights for granted, those contained in the First Amendment being seen the war against Iraq is no excep- onstrations. But peace demon- as the most fundamental and unalienable of all. These include the freedom of religion, speech, and tion. This war has some of us strations, which regularly gather assembly; and when we perceive our rights as being infringed upon, we protest. (That freedom is guar- asking questions abounhc mean- thousands of people, are often anteed as well.) ing of patriotism; of 'liberty and blown offin ten seconds without There comes a responsibility with these freedoms, however. Generally, we understand this. We justice for all'. SO much as a meaningful quote know freedom of speech does not allow us to scream fire in a crowded theater. We know freedom of We wonder why our society, from an organizer. the press does not allow us to print false libel. supposedly based on the ideals Pro-war feelings are usually To do either could harm others. We accept this. We don't expect the press to publish top secret of peace, justice, freedom and covered on the individual level, documents. Why, then, is there such a hoopla about military censorship of sensitive material? democracy, is pursuing a course while the best the media can do The newsmen are panicularly irate. They want the who, what, where, when, and how of everything of action which will inevitably with thepeacemovementislump at the moment it occurs. But, as syndicated columnist J J. Kilpatrick said, "Reporters have no right to result in the deaths of thousands, it into one huge blob of Anach- know what targets will be attacked tomorrow." if not hundreds of thousands, of ronism and begrudgingly admit He assumes, however, that they do have the right to "timely news." Anything that has already world citizens. that it has a constitutional right happened should be fair game to reporters, he says. We wonder how such a soci- to assemble and petition the Yet, a war cannot be covered as a play-by-play football game. Baule assessments, which the press ety can embark on this path of government. wants so badly, often cannot be given accurately until days after the fact. destruction while millions of In short, there is little objec- HJ. Kaplan is in a unique position to understand the necessity of accurate assessments. He was a people within its borders are tivity in the mainstream media. member of the Foreign Service during the Vietnam Era and is more recently retired as editor-in-chief hungry. homeless and oppressed. It is invariably Pro-war. Some of Geo magazine. He's been on both sides of the fence. And even more, we wonder people recognize this, and sup- With the less-strict censorship rules imposed during that conflict, reporters literally had their story how such a thing can happen port it; and that is their rightful fifteen minutes after a given incident, That led to bad-press. I don't mean in the sense that it put the whilemanycilizensofthiscoun- choice. But some people seem United States in a bad light (though it did), but rather in searching for "timely news," reporters didn't try watch, and even sometimes to think that just because there have time to get accurate news. cheer on, the murder and the ~ an unbiased media, According to Kaplan (keeping in mind he isalsoof a reporter's background], "American editors, who violence without so much as there is. This is a foolish as- were setting their stories in type before most people in Saigon had heard of the attack, would have been blinking an eye. sumption for 'free' people to served a little later-and perhaps a little better" had stricter news-releasing guidelines been in force. This is a complex question. make. With today's high-tech satellites, the press would be reporting live on the battle front if they had their But pan of the answer lies-in the An equally dangerous as- way. So, with Saddam Hussein six stories underground watching CNN's Special Report on the Gulf way the American media is sumption is that censorship is War (Day Whatever), it's no wonder United Statesand Allied military authorities want to slow the pace covering this war. This arc at limited only tocountries like Iraq of news dissemination a bit. least two parts to this problem; and the Soviet Union. This is The media may chafe under the delayed time factor and protest about the infringement of their rights, sensationalism and censorship. wholly untrue. but according LO a Times Mirror poll taken in the last week of January the public is in support of military We have all seen network and We have at least two types censorship: 57% to 34%, with 9% undecided. This was published in The Sun on January 31, 1991, and cable coverage of the Gulf War, going on right now in this coun- has a 4% margin of error. and many of us read the main- try; blatant military and govern- In spite of the resentment towards the media pools, the structured interviews, and the filtered news- stream newspapers. What we ment censorship, and a more briefings, even the reporters admit that the news they dorcceive is the truth. Though it may not be the may not understand is how ac- subtle media discrimination, whole truth, the military can hardly lie to us. With all the reporters over there watching for customed we are becoming to described above. inconsistencies and keeping notebooks against the time they will be allowed to publish them after the the sensationalism with which The latter is rather simply See SCOTT, Pg. 5 Col. 5 the media 'objectively' reports explained. It is based on the '---------- the news. interests of the large corpora- was eventually reported, is a The "Nintendo Tendency" tions which own and control the threat to the lives of the troops. The Phoenix reigns supreme in all forms of mainstream centers of 'public' But why? mainstream media. The war has information. To put it bluntly, Is it not possible to withhold Edltcr-in-Chlef Andrea Covington been reduced to short headlines news is not produced primarily vital military information while Business Manager Laurie Lutche interspersed with weapons analy- for the benefit of the public in stillshowingthedeathandmaim- Copy Editor Julie Baile sis, footage of 'smart' bombs this country. It is produced for ing which our soldiers will in- Layout Editor Constantine Frangos blowing up Iraqi buildings, and, the profit of a relatively small evitablyface? Ibelieveitis. But Sports Editors Matt Levy and Ed Rigling of course, commercials. All the group of people. the problem is, if you and I see Production Assistants Andrea Covington, Julie Baile, networks have stark music and The interests of these people and understand what war is re- Meeghan Ziolkowski fancy graphics to augment and are in pan preserved bythemili- ally all about, it will tum our Photographers Bob Kirkendall, Helen Lowe, set the tone of their coverage. tary-indusuial status quo. And stomachs and make us cry. It Ines Perez, Jenn Scott Our 'enemies', as expected, since this war essentially to pre- might give us compassion for Reporters ........ Pat Blackman, Andrea Covington, Lauren E. are stereotyped as religious fa- serve and expand that status quo, the Iraqis who are being mur- Himmel, Bob Kirkendall, Mike Kubacki, Ines Perez, natics following an evil god. they support it by making their deredbyourtaxdol1ars.Itmight Thomas E. Quirk, Wendy Ruderman, Todd Robinson, Their murders are considered in coverage highly selective in even get us to realize that the Jenn Scott, Joe Vernetti a completely dispassionate content, but 'objective' in style. government considers our sis- Birthday Boy Terry Dalton manner. Theyarerarely,ifever, This way they preserve their ters', brothers', sons' anddaugh- The Phoenix is published bi-weekly. The opinions expressed shown as human beings with interests and maintain their ters' lives expendable in pursuit do not necessarily reflect those of Phoenix staff members or lives as real as yours or mine. unquestioning audience because of its goals. those of the administration at Western Maryland College. Emotion is only reserved for the they appear to have the 'whole' Thegovernmentandthemili- The Phoenix welcomes submissions and Letters to the Editor. 'good guys'. picture. This is a frightening tary learned well from Vietnam. Letters to the Editor that are one page, typed, and double spaced We are saturated by soft scenario. And when they got away with are guarerueed publication in the upcoming issue. Letters to the Editor exceeding that limit must be submitted on a Macintosh images of our soldiers writing Just as frightening is the fact gross censorship to hide the in- diskineither Microsoft Word, WriteNow, or MacWrite formats letters. And we thrill to adrena- that we accept military and gov- justice of their gunboat diplo- and will be published as space permits. Please include a phone lin-pumped interviews with pi- ernment censorship in the name macy in Grenada, Lebanon, number for verification. Letters to the Editor are due one week: lots coming down off their bomb- of "national security" without so Nicaragua, Panama and the Iran- before publication. induced highs. Yet we see no much as a whimper. We have Contra affair, they decided they Address mail to: The Phoenix interviewswilh the conscientious been thoroughly convinced that could get away with it again. 2 College Hill objectors in military prisons, nor to report a war in its day to day Andmaybetheywill,ifwedon't Western Maryland College with the literally thousands of detail of death, the way Vietnam begin to question. a wesminster.Mlr 21157