Sam Smith - Regardless of the considerable bias in the
mainstream media over little wars like those right now in Palestine and
Ukraine, it is important to remember that the big media first and
foremost loves toy wars. For example, sending Wolf Blitzer to Israel
journalistically makes about as much sense as sending Justin Bieber to
report from a girl's summer camp, But CNN thinks it adds gravitas.
Besides, Israel and Palestine have roughly the same population as
Pennsylvania. They should not be encouraged to determine the course of
American history.
As for the strife between Russia
and Ukraine it is worth remembering that Ukraine and Crimea first became
aligned with the Russian Empire in the 18th century and in World War
3.5 million Ukrainians fought on one side and 250,000 fought on the
other. It's not the sort of issue one should expect John Kerry or CNN to
resolve.
Still, it helps build audience to imply that we're
on the verge of World War III so the major bias of big media - led by
TV - is not on one side or another but comes from being enthralled by
military crises anyway they can get them. Which is why you see endless
mlitary experts being interviewed on cable TV but hardly any peace
experts despite the fact that peace is much hard to achieve than war.
