European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - February 21, 1991, Darmstadt, Hesse Thursday february 21, 1991 the stars and str per it a a. Page 13 commentary Tom Bethell obligation to be sceptical of wars of Korthe years in be done my share of Media bashing but in a reluctant to join in the latest round directed at the reporting of the War from Baghdad. Quot Seri. Alan Simpson a Wyo has called Cable news network reporter Peter Arnett a a Collaborator a and Reed Irvine of accuracy in Media has compared Arnett with William Joyce known As a lord Haw Haw a who broadcast from Germany in world War ii arid was later executed for treason. A., a a the Media research Center based in Alexandria va., has sent a letter to can vice president Ted Turner calling Arnett a More of a propagandist for Maddahi Hussein than a reporter for a its True that what Arnett and others Tell us from Baghdad is subject to censorship. But surely can viewers have been adequately warned of this by now. As someone said Arnett a reports carry More warnings than a pack of cigarettes. At the same time reports from the . Press Pool in saudi Arabia Are carefully stage managed by Pentagon officials. Can we be confident that controlled reports from saudi Arabia give us a More accurate picture the Fth censored reports from Baghdad. True the Media critics might reply but news management in Dhahran works to the allies advantage whereas censorship in Baghdad works to Saddam a. This is questionable. Rarely does does ignorance Confer advantage on anyone. A democracy is not Likely to work Well if the people Are kept ill informed a allegedly for their own Good. In fact poor information May have been an important cause of the War. A George Bush has publicly expressed concern that Saddam was Long kept in the dark by his , perhaps afraid to Tell him How perilous his position was. Ideally the role of the press is to furnish Neutral accurate information. If in. Manned cameras could be set up in Baghdad not controlled by human hand but simply transmitting an unedited picture of the effects of . Bombing raids would it be desirable to show such pictures on to. A a. A military personnel and Media critics Jay Wii argue against it on the grounds the horror of War in graphic detain right tend to undermine our will oneness to press for All out Victory. Some Mich sentiment docs seem to animate a number of the Media critics today. On in no a crossfire a Irvine admitted that True propaganda was More effective than untrue and that he was affected by such wartime horrors As the sight of burning children. But if Media critics Are objecting to War coverage on these grounds then their criticism has been misstated. Their True objection is not so much to the inaccuracy As to the accuracy of the information transmitted. Their ostensible opposition to Quot censored Quot news masks a real opposition to news. Their desire to conceal the damage the allies Are doing to life and property abroad is represented As the healthy fear of collaborators operating in enemy territory. A the truth is that wars Are a drastic Way of resolving disputes a so drastic that Price under Way they develop a momentum of their own and obscure the basis of the original dispute Why were rival armies lined up in trenches in world war1, blazing away at one another for months and years on end resulting in millions of deaths. In retrospect the pacifists of the Day had a Point u put it mildly. The evil of that War and the Folly of its generals would surely have been Quot curtailed if vivid pictures had been transmitted Back to the Home front. Wars he lishness ought to be brought Home to us., if Only to encourage prudence in our leaders. One had hoped that the new technology satellite transmission and instant communication would already have had i this salutary effect. Perhaps with such a communication in place All Oyer the world we will one Day enjoy the a new world order that Bush so blithely invokes when in truth he is thinking of. Nothing More recent than the . System. A a a a a v War is already unlikely now Between countries fully wired with Cable. The a electronic Media a generically understood Are Likely to inhibit future com Manders in chief. By the same Token current and future democracies Are most unlikely in come to blows meanwhile totalitarian regimes will continue to Harbor rulers who Are dangerous because they do not have to reckon with Adverse publicity and the organized resistance of an informed Public. I do h ave one complaint about Many journalists however i wish they would be More consistent. War is one Federal program they arc inclined to be sceptical about they should be equally sceptical of others but for some reason the profession retains an abiding enthusiasm for govern ment solutions to a vast array of problems a a a. A perhaps the concept damage should give them pause. Some of our Domestic programs May have done More harm to our inner cities than our bombing raids have done to Baghdad. A Bethell is a Media Tellew at the Hoover institution his editorial was written Lor the los Angelos times Jim Fain reporters like a Friend who fought in the Jungles of new Guinea and whose son serves on an aircraft Carrier in the persian Gulf asks a what Are we going to do about. Peter Arnett a. As he and millions see it can and its reporter in Baghdad Are enemy propagandists. Whether to suspend democratic freedoms including the press right to double Check in time of War is a a debate that goes Back to at least the alien and sedition acts. Like everything about the Gulf its Given new immediacy and passion by satellite television. The political and propaganda Battles of this War Are fought in the worlds living rooms with human faces ranging from George Bush to Pentagon briefer it. Gen. Thomas relly from Saddam Hussein to Arnett. This All consuming soap opera injects a bitter personal Quality into what used to be a More abstract argument. Sen. Alan Simpson r-wyo., called Arnett a Quot sympathizer a falsely citing his former wife As someone with Viet Cong connections. It was a vicious irrelevant charge unfair to an old pro who risk eco his life so regularly and Long to get eyewitness pieces out of Vietnam that other reporters i pleaded with him to pack it in before his Luck run out. Most americans Are All for muzzling once Battle is joined. Reporters who remind us children Are dying under our bombs Are viewed As enemies. Sure the allies Are in the propaganda business too. Pentagon spin Doc tors Seldom show pictures of bomb misses. Kuwait spends millions promoting iraqi atrocities. Limits on press Access to troops and the Battlefield Are the tightest in . History. Cd est be Guerre hard cheese and so what who cares if truth is the first casualty of War we can resume the luxury of democratic freedoms after cleans ing the other Guys clock. Truth in War is like that Village in have to destroy it in order to save it. No sane journalist argues for the right to publish Security details that might endanger soldiers. A voluntary code on that was universally respected in Vietnam. The record was equally Good in Korea and world War ii. The Pentagon clamped a lid on Field reporting this time not because of past Security violations but out of conviction that Vietnam Battlefield reporting a which even it now admits was More accurate than the official version a fuelled anti War sentiment. That a undeniable but re raises the question of who was right. Would we have been better off continuing that War especially Given the Way Johnson and Nixon chose to fight it. A the truth shall make you free Quot is the text on which democracy rests. Without truth or As close As can be dug out citizens have no Monitor on those who commit their sons and daughters to Battle. Having to Deal with a meddlesome press undoubtedly limits what democratic leaders can do. Small wonder they envy the latitude of the Saddam. I los a safeguard against not just hubris and abuse of Power but even bad judgment. The Trade off for some hobbling at the top is the staying Power and common sense of an informed people underneath. The press role is to defend those assets Fang and claw and to hell with being liked. A popular journalist usually ism doing the Job right. If we did no to have Arnett and others like him in Baghdad painstakingly trying to fill in some of the pieces of the Puzzle we would need to invent them. Is a. A a news service a a x a a Quot a a a a
