This essay is a letter which I sent by email to Mr. Bobby Beecher of coastal Georgia, a columnist for The Glennville Sentinel. The Sentinel can be accessed online at www.glennvillesentinel.net/ In this letter I challenge the assumption that the media is for the most part biased toward the Left. I also support the prosecution of anyone who reveals state secrets for their own or political gain, and I support the rule of law, which includes the prosecution of perjury.
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Media bias and the Valerie Plame affair100% Voted for by cafegroundzero, AlaskaMoleman.
Wednesday, November 23, 2005
Dear Mr. Bobby Beecher: Happy Thanksgiving, sir. As I begin to sit at this desk and computer work station in our front space (I eschew the use of the phrase "living room," for do we not live as well or even more in other parts of the house?) I glance down to my right at the essay "The Problem is Power," published in the Sentinel of 3 November of this year. I've been carrying it around with my notebooks, books, and briefcase as I go about my substitute teaching, my trips to Savannah, or other business about this neck of the woods. I've meant to communicate to you how important I think and feel it is to hold ALL government officials accountable to maintain secrecy where secrecy is called for by policies we know as "secret," "top secret," etc. Now, please bear with me as before proceeding further I enter this disclaimer: I support the Commander-in-Chief and our President, George W. Bush, in our wars against terrorism and the Baathist and Taliban elements still resisting our efforts to bring stability and democracy to Afghanistan, Iraq, Southwest Asia, the Horn of Africa, and other hot spots in the world today. We tend to forget conflicts such as the Moro revolt in Philippines and the South American conflicts where drugs and even Marxism still pose threats to security and stability. Knowing that your cover will not be blown—even by other government workers or officials-- is vital to being able to stay the course in your own government work It occurs to me that these journalists are of course NOT guardians of truth, but rather those charged by the traditions of journalism to convey us information to the best of their ability, including the responsibility to report occurrences as truthfully as possible. Having postulated this, one might realize the primacy of defining the truth. And that, good sir, is a whole 'nother can of worm bait. This might be good material for one or more essays. What defines truth in reporting when analyzing the labyrinth of Beltway politics? I go back to the Republican-ness of Scooter Libby, and the alleged Liberalness or Democrat-ness of the reporters.
If Scooter Libby told a lie before the jury, that's still wrong, and it's still news in an age where the press can report beauty contests, scandals of sport stars that make far more money than many of us ever dreamed, and strange animal tricks. As an American citizen and registered voter, I have carefully thought out and arrived at the position that I oppose abortion, support the Bush-Cheney leadership, and support tightening border control and maintaining a coherent immigration policy. However, I oppose inequity in the job market, free trade policies that do not take into account an easier flow of labor to where it's needed, and the use of torture and denial of due process to those who are not deemed "lawful combatants," or whatever are the sticking points on the detainee matters. Would you consider me a Liberal, a Progressive, or an Independent? I think of myself now as a little of each, and actually as free a thinker as my mind and daily conditions, such as the leisure time available to ponder and cogitate clearly, allow. I see where you have referred to A Tale of Two Cities, in quoting Charles Dickens in likening the "self anointed guardians of truth" to "a jury of hounds empanelled to try the deer."Perhaps, I grant you, there is a majority of journalists who seem to fall into the more Liberal half or third of the spectrum. I remain not quite convinced on that point, and may undertake a study of the politics of "the media." I would like to point out, as you already well know, that you sir, Ms. Pam Waters, Ms. McLeod, and are also members of the media. So is all night talk radio, Christian radio and print media, and the internet. Perhaps we might properly serve the truth and our readers by taking yet another look at our use of the term media, its meaning, and --gulp-- nuances. I don't want to assume that you prefer the bias of seeming to defend those wealthy Anglo-American folk such as Libby. However, one might do well to examine one's motives. If we condemn the current crop of so-called "progressives" and "Liberal" journalists, and if we make any claim to be professional pundits, essayists, or journalists, if we aspire to serve all the community and not just preach to the converted, maybe we should take a fresh un-jaundiced look at how we present ourselves in the very press in which we DO have a voice, our local newspapers, our AM talk radio, our web logs. Let's join together in a united stand FOR America, FOR the South that we know and love, FOR our Georgia, and FOR our Tattnall, our Long, our coastal counties and communities. Let's stop pretending that the Democrat Party serves those it has traditionally claimed to serve, that the Republican Party has any cohesive and coherent conservative platform or policy. It's time we detach ourselves from our conventional positions of comfort, reassess our needs and our assets, including our intellectual abilities, and look for real solutions to real problems which affect us all, whether we be Republicans, Democrats, Greens, Libertarians, or whatever and however we label ourselves--or find ourselves labeled.
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