The Role of Media

I have placed a great amount of blame for the lack of support for the troops on the United States government. Though I do find them responsible for the betrayal of our troops, I also find that the media has a significant role as well. Believe it or not the media has a major influence on the American people. Some news channels are biased when reporting, but that is beside the point. The point is, today the news reports are more negative than positive. For some reason Americans have a fascination with watching the down fall of people. Knowing the media has a great influence on their audience, would it hurt to report the positive things in life? Would it hurt the news to spend a few minutes of their program to shed light on the positive things that the troops do.

With war come mixed feelings. However, I find many people confuse the difference between war and the troops. I think the media could do a better job identifying the difference. It is time for a different approach. When the war is over and the men and women who serve look back at the media, majority of it will be negative. I applaud ABC news for occasionally doing stories that personalize the military members. While history is being created here in the States, it is also being created overseas. It appears that the media only does positive stories on the military when there is progress with the war. What I propose to the media is doing more personalized stories about the troops. Trust me, out of all the men and women overseas there are hundreds stories just waiting to be told.

Talking to some of my friends in the military, I discussed the media and what their views were. Some said they felt the media was creating an image to the American people that the troops were worthless. Some soldiers were so discussed with the news they refused watch it overseas because it brought down their morale. As a substitute they created their own video journals for themselves and for family and friends to view. They said if the news won’t do stories, then they’ll create their own. Though the soldiers can not submit their own stories to CNN they created a network online to show their perspective of the war. I researched and found this is huge on Youtube. There are tons of video diaries that are created by soldiers showing their perspective of Iraq, their love for America, the military, and other topics. While the news reports what they think is newsworthy, hundreds of military members are posting their news on Youtube and other sights.

The statement I am making is the news needs to rethink how they position the troops on television. Instead of interviewing political figures about the troops, whom most do not have any military service, how about asking the source—the actual soldiers. Then maybe the news stories would be a bit more credible.

Below I have included a few video journals from Youtube. Let it be noted there is some graphic and disturbing images.






The Troop’s Advocator