Are newspapers less trustworthy than blogs? Just look at the coverage on Obama’s war on Libya
I get all of my news online now a days and pretty much ignore most newspapers.
The argument justifying newspapers (and traditional media outlets) curative power and influence is the perception that they are somehow more trustworthy. But is this really the case? Let’s examine the coverage on the United States’s war with Libya.
President Obama told a bipartisan group of members of Congress today that he expects the U.S. would be actively involved in any military action against Libya for “days, not weeks,” after which he said the U.S. would take more of a supporting role, sources tell ABC News.
http://abcnews.go.com/International/libya-crisis-obama-moammar-gadhafi-ultimatum/story?id=13164938
Well, it’s been two months later and I’ve seen minimal critique by any major U.S. news outlets about the fact that the U.S. is still involved in the war on Libya or that Obama misled us all about the duration of this conflict. It’s not just an issue about Obama lying about the length of the conflict, its the fact the law is being ignored and this sets a precedent of executive powers as well. On the Washington Post’s front page you’ll see this:
From the looks of the front page, you wouldn’t realize at all that Obama is essentially ignoring the law (War Powers resolution). The United States is now in a illegal war and none of the major publications (Washington Post, LA Times, New York Times) think its a big deal. If you check the front page of the other newspapers you’ll find a similar trend. In fact, you can see the actual print front page of every newspaper at http://www.newseum.org/todaysfrontpages/
Let me tell you in advance what you won’t find, central coverage making a big deal of about an illegal war on Libya. Why is this important? Well, for years, we we’re seeing news coverage about the War on Iraq daily. In fact, news about war protestors would be front page news, but that was a war that was declared legally and voted on by Congress. The major newspapers managed to give front page coverage to Cindy Sheehan and random editorials about Iraq for years. Obama is blatantly breaking the law with his illegal war, yet what do hear? Nothing.
Regardless of whether you support the war on Libya or against it, you have to admit that the hypocrisy shown by major U.S. papers and traditional media outlets is astounding. Is the fact that the illegal war being ignored related to the fact that many members of traditional media are in love with Obama? Probably. So if they are biased, what reason is there to trust them any more than a blog? None.
What’s the point of all this? Just to note that as a platform, blogs can significantly better, especially if you are reading the right ones.
kennethto-blog-blog posted this