Staged Photo opportunities were reported by Anderson Cooper so it isn't a giant right-wing conspiracy to discredit the media reports that came from Lebanon. The fact is media manipulation is a major part of Hezbollah's arsenal. This doesn't mean that Israel should be immune from scrutiny regarding its actions in Lebanon, simply that the media reports that came from Lebanon should be scrutinized as well.
I find it interesting that in a free and open society the media isn't immune from a level of control. The difference between a free society and a closed, controlling society is who actually exercises that control. In truth the media should be self-managing, able to portray an objective view for interpretation by the world. This self-management should be similar to how scientific disciplines avoid the bias of predefined assumptions by the use of peer reviews and the scientific process. If journalism is ever to come close to the level of accuracy displayed in our scientific communities, it needs better controls and more objectivity (Referring to all News outlets, including the New York Times and Fox News).
One of the problems with today's journalists is that they are not scientists but artists. News is given to the masses after it has been modified to either make it aesthetically pleasing or shockingly dramatic. It is entertainment, and as such it will always be subject to the biased world view of the artist. Another related problem with today's journalism can be best portrayed by the telephone game. Given that a story is often passed through multiple sources before it becomes available to the masses, it becomes subject to the biases of every link in that chain. Often times a reporter may receive footage that has come through so many links that the original source is no longer known. Lebanon was the perfect example of that, as major media outlets displayed footage that was found to come from staged scenes.
News that is scientifically presented may be termed by some to be simply boring. However, it would be just about as boring as lectures on physics, which some find to be quite fascinating. I get the feeling we're going in the right direction with our media's self-controls, even if those self-controls are the by-product of an ideological war (Left vs. Right, we expose your fake photos, you expose ours). We're still a long way off though, so anything we can do to further scrutinize the news is simply a step in the right direction.
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Staged Photo opportunities were reported by Anderson Cooper so it isn't a giant right-wing conspiracy to discredit the media reports that came from Lebanon. The fact is media manipulation is a major part of Hezbollah's arsenal. This doesn't mean that Israel should be immune from scrutiny regarding its actions in Lebanon, simply that the media reports that came from Lebanon should be scrutinized as well.
I find it interesting that in a free and open society the media isn't immune from a level of control. The difference between a free society and a closed, controlling society is who actually exercises that control. In truth the media should be self-managing, able to portray an objective view for interpretation by the world. This self-management should be similar to how scientific disciplines avoid the bias of predefined assumptions by the use of peer reviews and the scientific process. If journalism is ever to come close to the level of accuracy displayed in our scientific communities, it needs better controls and more objectivity (Referring to all News outlets, including the New York Times and Fox News).
One of the problems with today's journalists is that they are not scientists but artists. News is given to the masses after it has been modified to either make it aesthetically pleasing or shockingly dramatic. It is entertainment, and as such it will always be subject to the biased world view of the artist. Another related problem with today's journalism can be best portrayed by the telephone game. Given that a story is often passed through multiple sources before it becomes available to the masses, it becomes subject to the biases of every link in that chain. Often times a reporter may receive footage that has come through so many links that the original source is no longer known. Lebanon was the perfect example of that, as major media outlets displayed footage that was found to come from staged scenes.
News that is scientifically presented may be termed by some to be simply boring. However, it would be just about as boring as lectures on physics, which some find to be quite fascinating. I get the feeling we're going in the right direction with our media's self-controls, even if those self-controls are the by-product of an ideological war (Left vs. Right, we expose your fake photos, you expose ours). We're still a long way off though, so anything we can do to further scrutinize the news is simply a step in the right direction.
And its pretty easy to tell the two apart, as only one of them screams out HEADSHOT!!! after performing the deed.