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War
changes everything
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the view
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by Tarek Atia |
A new type of UN report?
April 12, 2003
| Everybody is talking about how
biased the news coverage of the war is. How you can’t really tell
what’s going on. How it all depends on the side you’re hearing
it from. How it doesn’t really matter what side you’re hearing
it from, because it’s all unknown anyway.
 “And
what the hell is embedded?” I heard someone say. That’s right,
if there’s one thing this war has taught us, it’s that the media
– all media -- has no credibility. Hell, I should be ecstatic.
I’ve been telling people that for years.
I’m aware, of course, of
how that sentiment might seem strange coming from someone who is
smack in the center of the media whirlwind. But it is precisely
because of my being in the media kitchen, so to speak, that I have a
pretty good clue of what goes into the mix. And although I do not in
any negative way mean this as a generalization, the skeptic would be
smart to take everything in the media with a grain of salt, or two.
So now – thanks to the war
and the astounding bias shown in its coverage by all sides -- media
critics can be happy. The message they’ve always been delivering
– that media stinks, that you can’t believe what you hear, read
or see, that it’s all about money and power in the end – is
finally making inroads amongst the general population.
It’s like someone said,
“that both the media and the US government have come clean, laid
all the cards on the table, decided not to hide their corrupt inner
workings any more.” But even then, with everything out in the
open, the critics and everyone else who always knew can’t afford
to be smug. Saying “I told you so” means nothing in a world
that’s gone utterly depraved.
Only new ideas can bear fruit
now. And I was truly ecstatic to hear one the other day.
“So what’s the UN good
for now?” went a typical conversation.
“Nothing, I suppose.”
“And we can’t really
trust any of our media?”
“Yeah.”
And from that conversation, a
brand new concept emerged.
“So why doesn’t the UN
get into the media business?”
Could
the United Nations become a truly global media? I would say that’s
definitely an idea that deserves to be kicked around in a very
serious way. If it ends up being impractical, or impossible to
implement, so be it. At least alternative visions are emerging.
But
remember, if it does become big – you heard it here first.
Send
your comments to Tarek
Atia
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