I am hard pressed to find anything wrong with this mission statement:
The goal of Media Slander is to hold journalists and bloggers to high ethical standards regarding coverage of the War on Terror and other military-related issues. We plan to achieve this by highlighting bias, rumor and falsehoods that have been creeping into military coverage under the guise of objective news.
We by no means advocate censorship or the deliberate suppression of well-researched and relevant stories about the war and the military.
As much as journalists feel that they are the guardians of the First Amendment, its true protectors are standing watch in Iraq, Afghanistan and places no one will ever hear about. Journalists owe it to the true gatekeepers of our liberties to be fair, balanced, relevant and accurate in covering them.
Signed,
The entire staff of MediaSlander.com
I hope they remain true to the statement, because then they will be performing a valuable service. But, and this is a big but, if it devolves into silly arguments like ‘all they reported was the seven dead and they ignored the mosque that got built,’ it will quickly devolve to farce.
I think it is important to document everything that is going well, but at the same time, I think it is a BIGGER deal if 5 soldiers get killed in IED attacks today than it is that a school opened somewhere today. While broad overviews of everything that is going right, much like the great Arthur Chrenkoff round-ups, are important, and, I believe woefully lacking, it would be silly to demand that every story of a soldiers death be required to be countered with another story about a school opening.
That wouldn’t be a demand for media balance- that would be tantamount to demanding the suspension of reality in the dictation of news judgement. That is a road I am not willing to travel.
And, let’s face it. These are my guys getting shot. It may be selfish and petty, but personally, I care more about our guys getting shot and the rate they are getting shot than I do about feel-good items like schools being re-painted.
At any rate, I have confidence in Black Five, who is a class act, and I shall be reading Media Slander.
TJ Jackson
Guess this is the reason that ABC is going to read a list of the war dead. Because of the debt respect they have for the military and its mission.
Stormy70
Blackfive is good people. Thanks, I’ll bookmark it.
Kimmitt
“Fair and balanced” has taken on something of a new meaning these days.
And TJ — you don’t think the dead deserve the honor of public recognition?
carpeicthus
I agree with both the mission statement and the caveat. Who doesn’t want ethical standards for reporters of all kinds? Or professions of all kinds? But the standards themselves should be fairly applied.