Edited by author 10-28-2003 10:35 PM
Thanks for the opportunity to express an opinion about what I'd like to see in our media. One word: integrity. The story that sticks in my mind is of journalist Robert Fisk who, it was reported in the American media, was attacked and beaten by Afghan rebels. When one read Mr. Fisk's column in the UK papers one finds out that their village had just been bombed by US forces and these people were running for their lives. They were frightened and very angry and upon seeing someone who appeared to be western, they took out their frustrations. Mr. Fisk starts and ends his column by saying that had he been one of the villagers, he would also have attacked anyone looking like a westerner. So two radically different reports of the same event ... one which, though true, isn't whole and leads the reader to believe in the fight, while the other gives the complete story. Upon reading Mr. Fisk's account I felt manipulated by the US report and couldn't help but wonder whose agenda was being supported by the lack of integrity. The suspicion continues. Perhaps the best thing to come out of it all is that I now intentionally search for "the other side of the story" in European, UK and Middle East publications. Sadly, this shouldn't be necessary. It seems that the corporate and political machines are so intertwined and the pressures to conform and support so overwhelming that journalists who want to pay the bills are forced to compromise. The reader loses. Integrity is what I look for.