The press is a bunch of low lifes, traitors, and a general evil on society

yes all this has been said many times before over the last 80 years.

I remember when the war began it was all about how fast and uber the american military was at capturing certain undefended areas of Iraq, but the lack of any nuclear weapons kind of f*cked up any reason for portraying the war as good. Would you rather that the news stated how many 'terrorists' were killed each day by US soldiers, I think I'd find that very interesting.

Obviously none of the tech that all of Americas enemies don't already know about is shown on tv. I would say that actually going to war would show them right in the face what kind of tech they have lol.

 

Wouldn't that be something? Hearing and reading news reports as to how many terrorists and insurgents were killed. The only thing you hear is estimations from the Western front. Do you know the reason why terrorist cells do not post up news saying how many they have lost? They do not want the Western nations to know how much damage is being done. It is effectively a damage-control measure. It is also something on the mystic side, if we do not know how many there are in the first place, we will still fear the unknown. On the other hand, the insurgents get to know how much damage that they have inflicted and where the damage was done. It is pretty much spying without spies.

We're in the fog of war, they are not.

 

Exactly. It's like playing against a map hacker, but you can't find him no matter how hard you look on the map. He has only wraiths moving at top speed, and he can see everything that you send against him while you can't see any of his units.

By the way, he can also cloak, and you have only one observer. So unless he moves, you can't touch him.

 

you see? that' what happens when things gets mis-reported, we get people to think that islam is all about killing "us". that is so far away from the truth it's not even funny.

 

The CIA gave accurate reports on Vietnam since before we even got involved in it. Their advice was: Don't get involved in it. Their advice after we got involved was: We aren't doing any good. *ZING* CIA wins

 

ah, paragon you posted again, good to have you back(GM_K will selfdestruct if he hears this)

 

i don't see why we can't censor this kind of stuff, freedom of speech doesn't let us yell FIRE in a crowed theater, so why should freedom of the press let them yell AMERICANS OVER THERE during a war?

 

Freedom of speech is a joke.

 

you really think there is "freedom of speech"?

sure you can call the president an asshole, but does that really matter? it's not gonna affect the country. there is no such thing as "freedom of speech" the things that do matter, can someone working in any government agency freely talk about america's secrets? military secrets are in the same category and shouldn't be disclosed.

 

Three things wrong with this thread.

1) The Insurgents don't know how many of their own have died because of their policy of leaving the dead where they lie. The U.S. retrieves fallen friends, and as such has numbers to report. As for whether or not those numbers SHOULD be reported, no, they should not be. But keep in mind that most of these journalists are doing this as commentary against the war, they're just really bad at it. Hiding Private David Smith's death in an already unpopular war would cause just as much, if not more commotion.

2) If I ever again hear anyone refer to the Islam faith as "A religion all about killing us", I will personally make it my life's goal to see them permanently banned. As a practicing* Muslim, I'm vaguely offended by that statement, and would kindly suggest that you do research on a topic before presenting such a strong opinion.

3) Freedom of speech is amazing, and exists strong. There's countries around the world where we would be killed for having this conversation, you know. Granted, it's not as open-minded as it was decades ago, but keep in mind that nothing is.


Everything else, I agree with.

* though admittedly lenient

 

@BnechbReaker

There is freedom of speech. If you have access to classified information you have to sign away your right to speak about that information before you were allowed to see it. At the same time there are whistle blower laws which are supposed to protect people who report illegal activity in the government even if the information they give is classfied. Further, if you recieve classfied information and you have not signed away your right to speak about it, you can speak about it. For example, if classified information is leaked to a newspaper, they can report it and the government can't do a thing about it other than ask them kindly not to. The reporter who got the information would have to reveal their source though or face, I think contempt of court charges and be jailed. However, if they reveal what they know about their source then they haven't broken any laws.

 

In my opinion, classified information is a grey area.

There's a reason some of it needs to be classified, but often it turns into an excuse for not making important information public for political reasons. This is also unacceptable, but so is the publishing of leaked information.

Just because I happened to leave my credit card on the kitchen counter doesn't give my roommates the right to publish that information on the internet. It's sensitive information that will aid the "enemy." Just because it's interesting information doesn't give them the right to sell me short for attention.

Heck, they could even apply the "right to know" logic to this one. Wouldn't the general public benefit from knowing my credit card number? I would certainly think so. I would think a plasma TV would do anybody good.

The key is careful balance of the right of free publication (notice I didn't say free speech) and the right of governments and people to keep information that is key to success private. With the internet and the advent of such fast news processes, some of these checks and balances that were put in place 30-40 years ago are no longer fast enough to cope with this flow of information.

Therefore, since it is the agencies who are reporting this information, they should ultimately be accountable for the information they provide to the public. They need to effectively censure themselves of important information that is vital to the success of the American military while maintaining their philosophy of the public's "right to know."

 

Huh...I didn't know there was another Muslim on this forum. I'm more or less a Buddhist/Muslim. Yes, people tend to be very ignorant of Islam and I'm always asked why I decided to be one, and everytime I have to explain the same things, and they always say the same things, "Why does the Koran say to kill innocent people?" It doesn't, its assholes like Osama that say it does, and there's always the very original arguement, "Islam puts down women!" It doesn't, it was the early communities that Islam spread to that said this or that and kept women illiterate. Yeah, I usually win these debates.

Anyway, the press should be responsible and intelligent enough to know when something needs to be told or not. Hell, I'm 15, and I damn well know that troop casualties should not be told to the public or that the next phase in the plan should not be blurted out for everyone and their mom's mom to know.

I believe that with the career choice of being a journalist, you should have a sense of responsibility to know when particular things should not be told, because not only will OUR country know, but also our enemies.

Again, this is why I dislike the press so much, it thinks that it can say anything and that everything they say is right. The majority of journalists do not understand warfare or how it is conducted. They do not understand tactics, needs, or vital information that is required to fight a war, and yet it always flaunts how it "knows" how things work.

Sorry if I just basically repeated what was already said, everyone basically just told my own opinions of the press in general

 

yes i would like to clear something up real fast. never once did i say it was muslims that wanted to kill us. i probably could been more specific on that. but yes Bizarro_Paragon. i never said anything to offend muslims and know a few. but if you took it as offense anyways then sorry because I'm not here to piss people off. just to talk about starcraft

 

I don't see how this could be interpreted in any manner other than one which is extremely offensive to Muslims. Usually I would be understanding of a quote taken out of context or worded incorrectly, but you back up your point multiple times... This is highly inappropriate behavior. Highly Inappropriate.

 

The insurgency uses the American media against the American war effort on a daily basis. One of their main strategies of turning the American public so completely against the war that the government is basically forced to pull out is only made possibly by the American media. If I was a policy maker, I would ban the press from being allowed to be embedded with our troops.

 

I've got to agree with paragon, wouldnt things be a whole lot better if the only news you heard from Iraq and Afganistan was from George Bush.

 

i want you to point out one part in everything i said that says muslims. apperently you people dont understand that the muslims aint what want to kill us. alkeida and taliban are what im talking about and they are what were in there for. not the damn muslims. so dont put words in my mouth.

 

you know what. your right. i fucking hate the muslim religion. mabey you ignorent teenagers should know that its in there fuckin religion that if they cant convert someone to muslim. then they must kill them! ive seen to many of my men die because of those fucks your all defending so fuck you all im out

 

Dude, do some research.

There are screwed up people in every religion. So I guess the Christians is a bad religion because of their history and what they did to the people that don't believe in them right?

People need to get a reality check. Every religion's main point is to do goods and help people in this world. That is their main focus. But power hungry religious people would go all out on other people saying, "MY RELIGION IS BETTER THAN YOURS, IF YOU DON'T BELIEVE MY RELIGION, YOU WILL DIE AND GO TO HELL." bla bla bla. That is why you get a bunch of haters.

So in conclusion. Every major religion's main focal point is teaching us good deeds. It is the PEOPLE that twists the religions true meaning, not the other way around.