Friday, March 24, 2006

Does The Media Want Us To Lose The War?

I was reading this e-mail from a soldier in Iraq to Hugh Hewitt. Here is it in part:

"As it currently stands, the MSM is not telling the whole truth and actually siding with the enemy on occasion. They'll jump at the chance to report completely unsubstantiated claims by Iraqis of killings or theft or abuse that simply isn't credible when you know even the first thing about the American "militry" (as Ware calls it). They give the ruthless killers the benefit of the doubt every time, just to spread more nonsense about us.

Most soldiers don't follow the news back home, and it's a good thing,
because it would make them sick to know how they're being portrayed in the media. But I must be a bit of a masochist, because I can't seem to get enough. And it certainly takes a toll when you read time and time again in the NYT about things you know to be untrue or misrepresented.

The media wants us to lose, and they're doing their damndest to see it happen. But I have faith that the American people are too smart to fall for that trick twice."

I understand his frustration with the media, but I am not convinced that they want us to lose. I think they just don't believe in this war, so they are just more apt to report things badly because that is the way they see it.

I also think that there is some elitism involved here. Many in the media see themselves as above it all. I think they view our soldiers as being young and ignorant. I don't think they, in general, understand anything about passion or committment for our country. They are taught in journalism school to be skeptical. While that is a good thing to be in journalism, it shouldn't keep one from trying to be objective and report the good along with the bad.

I also think that this generation of reporters, taught by liberal professors, only remember Vietnam and the disaster that it was. They only see WWI and WWII as some far away historical event. War to them is bad. Always bad. When one is taught that all things are equal and someone's wrong may be another man's right, why would you ever see a need to fight for anything?

And finally, Their dislike for Bush is so intense that it colors their reporting whether they mean for it to or not. They realize that if Iraq goes well in any sense, then Bush will be remembered as a great President who bravely fought the war on terrorism. I don't think they can abide by that.

So I don't think they want us to lose, but they don't want us to win either.