• Menu
  • Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Before Header

  • About Us
  • Lexicon
  • Contact Us
  • Our Store
  • ↑
  • ↓
  • ←
  • →

Balloon Juice

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Is it negotiation when the other party actually wants to shoot the hostage?

You can’t attract Republican voters. You can only out organize them.

There is no right way to do the wrong thing.

Let us savor the impending downfall of lawless scoundrels who richly deserve the trouble barreling their way.

They’re not red states to be hated; they are voter suppression states to be fixed.

Relentless negativity is not a sign that you are more realistic.

I’ve spoken to my cat about this, but it doesn’t seem to do any good.

Accountability, motherfuckers.

I’d like to think you all would remain faithful to me if i ever tried to have some of you killed.

We are aware of all internet traditions.

You are so fucked. Still, I wish you the best of luck.

Their boy Ron is an empty plastic cup that will never know pudding.

“Why isn’t this Snickers bar only a nickel?”

Never entrust democracy to any process that requires Republicans to act in good faith.

Our job is not to persuade republicans but to defeat them.

This has so much WTF written all over it that it is hard to comprehend.

If you are in line to indict donald trump, stay in line.

The media handbook says “controversial” is the most negative description that can be used for a Republican.

Nothing worth doing is easy.

Pelosi: “He either is stupid, or he thinks the rest of us are.” Why not both?

A snarling mass of vitriolic jackals

The republican speaker is a slippery little devil.

Let me eat cake. The rest of you could stand to lose some weight, frankly.

“The difference between stupidity and genius is that genius has its limits.”

Mobile Menu

  • Four Directions Montana
  • Donate with Venmo, Zelle & PayPal
  • Site Feedback
  • War in Ukraine
  • Submit Photos to On the Road
  • Politics
  • On The Road
  • Open Threads
  • Topics
  • COVID-19 Coronavirus
  • Authors
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Lexicon
  • Our Store
  • Politics
  • Open Threads
  • 2024 Elections
  • Garden Chats
  • On The Road
  • Targeted Fundraising!
You are here: Home / Politics / Media / A Discussion on the Media

A Discussion on the Media

by John Cole|  June 12, 20051:29 pm| 3 Comments

This post is in: Media

FacebookTweetEmail

Via BlackFive (and I can’t figure out for the life of me why he was not on my blogroll, something that has been fixed- I need a utility that synchronizes my browser bookmarks with my blogroll), I see this story which presents a dilemma, and goes a long way to explain why many are overtly hostile to the media:

The second story has no meaning but for the first. (This story originally appeared at Debate Space, my joint blog with The Liberal Avenger, who just happened to ask a question about internet censorship on military bases just as the blackout was lifted at our FOB.

As is the practice here in Iraq, the Command shuts down phone and internet connections for 24-48 hours, long enough for the Military to contact affected families. [When soldiers are killed from the unit- ed.]

Let me tell you why that is so important.

One of the idiots here who doesn’t understand the very good reasons for the blackout, placed an anonymous call just before the blackout was imposed, saying 4 soldiers of our Division were killed, maybe more injured.

An equally idiotic (no, make that even more idiotic) news editor or reporter called Mrs. Dadmanly at home, told her about the anonymous tip, and asked her if she had heard any news? The reporters involved apparently contacted several family members.

Needless to say, with the rest of us on blackout, my wife was a basket case, as were many other family members and friends. Since the news (based on this anonymous tip) was immediately reported on local news and amplified by CNN, the military authorities in our Rear Detachment were forced to send out an email confirming that soldiers were injured, but that no further information could be made available until families had been notified. Which just scared and upset more families and friends of Soldiers in our Division, because (thanks to HIPAA restrictions), the Army can’t reveal any medical information without patient consent.

My wife had to wait until the blackout was lifted to find out if I had been injured. Or if others in my unit had been hurt or killed.

During the blackout Soldiers in our unit had no idea the attack had been reported back home. When the blackout was lifted, I quickly emailed my wife at work, sending a bland “How are you today? I’m fine,” just in case she hadn;t heard anything, but letting her know I was okay if she had.

Her first response was, “Do You Know How Crazy Things Were Here?!”

Friends and family were frantic. Reports were all over the place, and there were all these calls from the press. Neighborhood new press. Neighbors from in town. Emails and calls. No solid information, no “Your Soldier is safe and sound,” but more like “You will be contacted if your Soldier has been injured.”

Discuss. Personally, I think it is a legitimate criticism to bash the media for this sort of thing, but I also wonder the wisdom of the unit cutting off all communication. Reminds me of all those awful scenes with Madeleine Stowe in “We Were Soldiers” (FYI- I thought the movie sucked, but the book was fantastic. The prologue makes me cry every time I read it.)

FacebookTweetEmail
Previous Post: « Frank Rich
Next Post: An Example For You »

Reader Interactions

3Comments

  1. 1.

    ed in texas

    June 12, 2005 at 6:32 pm

    Have a son in Afghanistan, and the same issues. CFC-A pretty much posts casualty reports daily, and the general rule is ‘no news is good news’. If my son’s battalion is listed in a report, I don’t EVEN mention it to my wife. Oddly, the only member of the family who gets less info is my younger son, who’s A-schooling at Ft Sam Houston to be a medic. He hears about a shoot out with casualties from his instructors, and has to call me to see if it’s likely his older bro might be involved.

  2. 2.

    Mike Jones

    June 12, 2005 at 8:05 pm

    First of all, the person who made the pre-blackout call is an idiot, and the reporters who acted on it are both idiots and scum.

    That said, it’s a hard call for the military. If they didn’t impose a blackout, would this sort of thing happen regularly to families? I’m generally on the side of “more information is better”, but when you’re talking about life and death information and families half a world away, things aren’t very black and white.

  3. 3.

    Aaron

    June 13, 2005 at 3:18 am

    But the public has a right to know!

Comments are closed.

Primary Sidebar

Recent Comments

  • Martin on Righteous Rant Open Thread (Apr 15, 2024 @ 5:38pm)
  • Old School on Righteous Rant Open Thread (Apr 15, 2024 @ 5:36pm)
  • JML on Righteous Rant Open Thread (Apr 15, 2024 @ 5:35pm)
  • schrodingers_cat on Righteous Rant Open Thread (Apr 15, 2024 @ 5:29pm)
  • Msb on Righteous Rant Open Thread (Apr 15, 2024 @ 5:29pm)

🎈Keep Balloon Juice Ad Free

Become a Balloon Juice Patreon
Donate with Venmo, Zelle or PayPal

Balloon Juice Posts

View by Topic
View by Author
View by Month & Year
View by Past Author

Balloon Juice Meetups!

All Meetups
Talk of Meetups – Meetup Planning
Proposed BJ meetups list from frosty

Fundraising 2023-24

Wis*Dems Supreme Court + SD-8
Virginia House Races
Four Directions – Montana
Worker Power AZ
Four Directions – Arizona
Four Directions – Nevada

Featuring

Medium Cool
Artists in Our Midst
Authors in Our Midst
Positive Climate News
War in Ukraine
Cole’s “Stories from the Road”
Classified Documents Primer

Calling All Jackals

Site Feedback
Nominate a Rotating Tag
Submit Photos to On the Road
Balloon Juice Mailing List Signup
Balloon Juice Anniversary (All Links)
Balloon Juice Anniversary (All Posts)

Fix Nyms with Apostrophes

Balloon Juice for Ukraine

Donate

Twitter / Spoutible

Balloon Juice (Spoutible)
WaterGirl (Spoutible)
TaMara (Spoutible)
John Cole
DougJ (aka NYT Pitchbot)
Betty Cracker
Tom Levenson
David Anderson
Major Major Major Major
ActualCitizensUnited

Political Action 2024

Postcard Writing Information

Balloon Juice for Four Directions AZ

Donate

Balloon Juice for Four Directions NV

Donate

Site Footer

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

  • Facebook
  • RSS
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
  • Comment Policy
  • Our Authors
  • Blogroll
  • Our Artists
  • Privacy Policy

Copyright © 2024 Dev Balloon Juice · All Rights Reserved · Powered by BizBudding Inc

Share this ArticleLike this article? Email it to a friend!

Email sent!