Media Coverage of Russia-Ukraine Conflict Criticized

How the world has changed. It used to be, during the Vietnam War, that there were essentially three networks and we'd be fed updates once a day in the evening news. You could also pick up newspapers for a little more and magazines for in-depth stories. But these media bytes were relatively brief. 

Most of the news was produced by professionals who, even if slanted, sought to give the appearance of neutrality, of being fair and balanced. With the advent of cable television people could become news junkies, engaged in covering happenings 24/7 as they happened. With so many hours to fill and stories to tell, it should not be a surprise to find the caliber of reporting to be uneven as regards accuracy.

On Friday evening I was listening to NPR's coverage of the Russian incursion into Ukraine. A journalist on the air made a statement that went something like this. "This is the first time since World War II that a major superpower invaded a lesser state." Those may not be the exact words, but it was incredibly absurd of an assertion. 

While driving, the countries rolled through my mind. Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan twice (Russians in 1980, the U.S. circa 2003), Iraq, Yugoslavia.

Newspapers regularly contain a page or two for editorial opinion pieces. These are generally vetted by the editorial staff which sometimes, as in the Duluth News Tribune, includes a citizen or two. With social media, the Twitterverse and blogs have produced a deluge of opinions that are sometimes quite shrill and silly, but often they are exceedingly perceptive. 

When the talking heads speak, their biases and ignorance can emerge despite their best efforts to be intelligent. The example above is one case in point. And in the Twitterverse, the audience response can be immediate and brutal.

This article from Al Jazeera has a lot of good examples of this point.

‘Double standards’: Western coverage of Ukraine war criticised

Social media users accuse the media of hypocrisy in its coverage of Russia’s war on Ukraine compared with other conflicts.

The first example is a CBS news correspondent who said that this invasion (Ukraine) is all the more shocking because it is taking place in a civilized nation not a backward one like Afghanistan and Iraq.  Here's one response:

Utterly stupid and ill informed statement. Afghanistan was also a peaceful and “civilised” place in 1979 before the Soviets invaded (and became the battle zone between the West and Soviet block). Ditto for Iraq (before the American attack in 2003)

You can follow a full thread of comments on Twitter in response to that transgression.

The next illustration in the Al Jazeera piece is of a high official from Ukraine being interviewed by BBC in which he says how emotional this is because he sees "European people with blonde hair and blue eyes being killed every day with Putin’s missiles and his helicopters and his rockets."

The immediate response from Twitter again:

But people with 'blue eyes and blonde hair' dropping bombs over the Middle East and Africa is OK.

Social media is a minefield indeed.

When Sky News broadcast a video of brave Ukrainians getting lessons on how to make Molotov cocktails, the response was illuminating:

If this was done by Palestinians, Afghanistan or other nations resisting occupation, it would be terrorism. And during Mandela's anti-apartheid era, it was also dubbed terrorism. For Europeans facing similar situations, it is resistance!. Western duplicity knows no bounds.

The article contains more thought-provoking examples. You can read the full Al Jazeera piece here: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/2/27/western-media-coverage-ukraine-russia-invasion-criticism

And I'll close with this interesting Tweet that I saw this a.m. 

Going to be awkward when the war in Ukraine is over and the left have to go back to being against nationalism, borders, and an armed citizenry

Whatever happens, this is a a good time to exercise caution and to embrace a measure of humility.

Wordless Wednesday: The JFK Assassination

Today's Top Stories

"I am not the editor of a newspaper and shall always try to do right and be good so that God will not make me one." ~ Mark Twain

It is one of my rituals to walk out to the road and bring in the morning paper at the start of each day. I like the walk, about three hundred feet, to our rural mailbox. I also enjoy reading the headlines on the way back toward the house.

It has to be tough being a newspaper editor. With so much happening in the world, how does one decide what will be the big stories of the day, and especially the big story that blares out above the fold. Here's what you see above the fold in today's Duluth News Tribune. And as a profession, newspaperfolk sure have to put up with a lot of guff.

Top banner above the masthead: Northland Golf Guide in fairly large letters with a close up photo of a golf ball on a tee and the head of a driver. More than 70 area courses and a look at how the economy is affecting the game is the subhead. For a lot of folks that might be enough to get a person to fork over a buck and a half.

The major feature has its headline split in two with a photo of grave markers filling a good section of the page in letterbox style aspect ratio. Above the photo: As bones of loved ones erode into the Nemadji River, the Fond du Lac tribe wonders... And below the photo, in largest font on the page: What will be done to respect their dead?

The right hand column has a box with a dotted line that contains two marketing messages. $88 IN COUPONS INSIDE and then "Where to find your TV today" with a blurb pointing out that the TV grid was inadvertently printed in the wrong place. Ooops.

The last news item above the fold is also in the right hand column. Sent in '67, letter finally gets an answer. LBJ was president, Penny Lane was at the top of the charts and Dragnet had just premiered. A form letter was sent from the Duluth city attorney's office to comparably sized cities seeking salary information for legal stenographers. Utica, New York answered this week.

The last front page story in today's paper declares, 100 days, trillions spent, Obama's success unclear. A closeup photo of President Obama has this caption: Has signed executive orders in 100 days than any president since Franklin Roosevelt.

The article, which came in through a syndicated feed from the McClatchy Newspapers, is essentially about how the economic crisis has given the president the opportunity to strengthen executive power. The headline, though, is curious to me. Obama's success unclear? Some of the laws being written into the books won't take effect for years, and the impact of all this legislation being rolled out at a dizzying pace may not be fully recognized for decades. In short, the phrase "Obama's success unclear" is a tautology.

One thing I do like about the Sunday paper, besides the comics, is the Opinion section. I especially like when they take an issue and present pro and con perspectives on an issue. Today's debate deals with the Aad Shrine Circus which is coming to town next weekend. Just plain fun or Just plain cruel is the headline.

A picture of smiling kids mounted atop a brightly decorated elephant fills much of the page. The kids sure are cute. It might be interesting to explore the ethics of circuses some time. Right now, I think I'll finish getting dressed so I can start my day.

What are today's headlines on your local paper? If you don't want to post just send an email. I'd be interested in hearing what's hot in your neck of the woods.

The Scoop Factory

In the Sixties Andy Warhol grabbed up an abandoned low-rent space in midtown Manhattan and transformed it into a leading influence in the New York art and culture Scene. A hangout, a studio, a cultural center and the ultimate 24/7 unreality show, Warhol’s world was known as The Factory. Famous for his fifteen-minutes-of-fame witticism, he was an astute observer of pop culture and built an empire on the idea of celebrity. His studio was also a silkscreen production facility which was likewise a factory. This unending output of product put Warhol on the map.

Fast forward. I don’t really know if this is what The New Republic and Gabriel Sherman had in the back of their minds by calling their analysis of Politico.com The Scoop Factory. For sure, there are parallels. And like Warhol's Factory scene, some people are raving about it and other despise it.

If you’re not familiar with Politico.com, you might want to check it out. It's become the hottest thing in online D.C. Inside-the-Beltway news coverage. Like Warhol’s Factory in the Big Apple, Politico is influential. And like Warhol’s factory, Politico excels at cranking out product. And finally, like the people in Warhol’s world, celebritydom is also part of the chic mystique.

In reading Sherman’s piece I can't help but wonder how legitimate his concerns are. How serious are the issues Sherman raises?

The key to Politico’s success is speed. In the Washington scoop game, first is always best, as long as it is accurate. The unfortunate thing for daily newspapers is that today’s late news has to wait for tomorrow to find its way to print. At Politico, the news breaks as fast as the journalists can break it.

Sherman details how a story on Politico gets fed into the food chain so as to be propelled to the widest sweep of viewers and listeners, making use of the Huffington Post, Rush Limbaugh and other megaphones to give the stories credence and hopefully enough relevance to bring them into the evening news. One of his concerns is that stories can get reported before they have been adequately analyzed, which I'm sure happens. But doesn't a journalist who repeatedly breaks news that is ultimately unfounded lose his or her cred?

Sherman’s second concern seems to me a canard. He laments the burnout pace Politico’s reporters operate on, as if they are forced into intolerable work conditions for a measly quarter-million dollars. Along with the perks of fortune they also have instant cred for their careers, widespread recognition and a perpetual soapbox. And we’re supposed to feel sorry for these writers? These are not galley slaves who have been abducted into the service of an ignoble captain in exchange for gruel and a rat infested life below deck in a stench filled hole.

When I was starting out as a freelance writer, the first job I was able to land was for an 80 hour work week that paid $180 a week. Below minimum wage. But eventually I would learn how to do the work faster, I was told. I declined the offer.

As I noted Sunday, the power of the newspapers has taken a hit. Politico.com may be untested for the long haul, but its made a mark. Like Facebook and Twitter, who today can honestly say what it will morph into tomorrow.

EdNote: The painting of the ice cream cone at top is not my own work, but a photo I took in a San Francisco art gallery in the spring of 2007. It is used without permission, though if someone locates the artist, I will inquire and give credit where it is due.

The Demise of Newspapers: What Does It Mean?

One of the recurring questions over the past fifteen years has been this one: What will be the impact of the Internet. I've heard some folks lament that it will destroy the English language as we know it. Michael Crichton, among others, predicted that network television would become extinct like the Jurassic period dinosaurs he wrote about. Others, upon seeing what is happening in print media -- magazines and newspapers -- have begun ringing alarm bells about the demise of democracy. Without an informed electorate, where will we be then? The questions are being raised. The only point of agreement is that things have been changing.

While in the Flagstaff B&N last week I picked up a copy of The New Republic (TNR) because it had several articles pertaining to this theme as it related to newspapers. One of these especially caught my eye, written by Paul Starr, a professor of communications and public affairs at Princeton. In Paul Starr's view, the diminished strength of our nation's newspapers will have serious ramifications in our culture, politics and our experience of democracy. In his article Goodbye to the Age of Newspapers (Hello to a New Era of Corruption) Starr writes, "More than any other medium, newspapers have been our eyes on the state, our check on private abuses, our civic alarm systems. It is true that they have often failed to perform those functions as well as they should have done. But whether they can continue to perform them at all is now in doubt."

That newspapers are shrinking in size is self-evident. Our local Duluth News-Tribune is half what it used to be, if that. And all across the country journalists are being ushered into early retirement or alternative careers, many in the Public Relations sphere. Declining ad revenues are the chief culprit as well as declining circulation numbers. The newspapers can't support the staff.

Starr states that Internet bloggers and writers excel at sharing their opinions but that Watergate scandals do not get unearthed without rigorous research and tedious fact-checking. I would counter that we have all seen the power of the blogosphere to bring down the likes of Dan Rather and Trent Lott. Such anecdotes do not entirely dismantle the force of his arguments. In my opinion it is a worthwhile debate.

According to Dean Baker, Co-director at the Center for Economic and Policy Research, "Newspapers are vital, but they have failed us." The title of his article, posted at Politico.com,says it all. Will you (unlike most Americans polled) miss your newspaper when its gone? How much will the decline of the paper hurt our democracy?

There's no hand-wringing in Baker's piece, which begins, "Newspapers have a vital role to play in a democracy, but unfortunately they have largely failed in filling this role in recent decades. For this reason, their passing is hardly a tragedy." Taking an optimist's view, the news and information business is being liberated and democratized by the demise of newspapers and the Internet's rise.

In that self-same issue of TNR which shared Starr's concerns we can find an intriguing dissection of Politico.com, the soapbox from which Baker delivers his salvos. The Scoop Factory bores down on the "brave new world of post-print journalism." I'll give my take on that story another day.

What do you think? Are newspapers going to die altogether? It's hard for me to envision that scenario. Some people once thought television would replace radio, but that never happened, though talkies did pretty much eliminate silent pictures. Four weeks ago former Superior Telegram editor Ron Brochu made some illuminating observations pertaining to this theme during an interview for Ennyman's Territory. Maybe you'd like to contribute something to this dialogue.

The Leonardo Interview

This weekend I was interviewed for the ezine Leonardo, which dubs itself as the Virtual Voice of the iRenaissance. The topic was blogging.

Leonardo: How do you view your blogging? Is it a job or a hobby?
ennyman: I've never considered it in those terms. Definitely not a job, though I feel a certain responsibility about it, much like one who has a job considers it important to show up every day. It's more of an exploration driven by passion.

Leonardo: How has Ennyman's Territory changed since you first began this blog.
ennyman: Initially the blog was simply an exploration of what blogging is and how it could be used. My content consisted primarily of extracts from 30-plus years of journal writing, with pictures of my art to illustrate each entry. The journal notes and quotes would be elaborated on with current feedback to what I had written in the past, amplifying or elaborating upon the initial entry.

Leonardo: What is the origin of your blog address, Pioneer Productions?
ennyman: Being a descendant of Daniel Boone, I have always identified with pioneers. Boone was a "long hunter" or what Minnesotans call Voyageurs. He would go out for a while and return with the goods that provided for his family.

Leonardo: Your visual art seems to go in a lot of directions. Do you consider the source of your creative energy to be hyperkinetic or a living spring?
ennyman: Well, to some extent it's both. I believe there's a well in each of us which we can tap into and draw from, a living spring. But yes, there are times when a catalyst sets off a burst of ideas and it does feel a bit hyperkinetic as you put it.

Leonardo: Do you have an aim with Ennyman's Territory?
ennyman: Several. I like to challenge people to look at things from a new angle and to think. Also, the artist in me is always in search of an audience, I think. For example, when I built my first website in the mid-90's it was in part to place to showcase my stories which I had poured myself into, but continually failed to get published. Putting them online not only gained them readers, it resulted in one being made into a short film, and three being translated into foreign languages -- Russian, Croatian and French. Two of my daughters short stories which I'd posted got published as well, in California and New Zealand. Ultimately, it is my aim to leave the world a better place than I found it, which I believe everyone should be striving to do.

Leonardo: What are some things your want to write about that you don't currently have time for?
ennyman: The list is endless. Infinite, really. Here's a quick skim of the first ten things that come to mind.
1. Interview my father-in-law in more depth, possibly place it on YouTube. He was the second Minnesotan drafted in World War II, and is currently 89.
2. Explore in more depth our fascination with stats. Internet stats, population stats, baseball stats, astronomical stats, economic financial stats, number of fights Rocky Marciano had without a defeat, etc.
3. Explore the notion that organized power can only be restrained by organized power based on the idea that Einstein was a pacifist who became non-pacifist due to Hitler.
4. The Owens-Blevins shootout in Holbrook during the 1880s.
5. Why does beauty make us cry? The Grand Canyon… Chopin… the Corn Palace in Mitchell South Dakota.
6. SWAT Team abuse. Who pays for the damage after the wreckage? How much of this goes on that we don't know about?
7. Tina Mion
8. Gordon Lish
9. The crippled newspaper industry. How serious is it? What difference will it make if we lose our local newspapers? The numbers speak for themselves.
10. Life On Mars, the David Bowie song from his Hunky Dory album, not the actual Red Planet.

Leonardo: We'll look forward to what comes next.
ennyman: Yes, it's one day at a time here. Today, sunrise in Sedona... tomorrow, back to the ranch in Minnesota.

Leonardo: Thanks for your time.
ennyman: And for your interest.

EDNOTE: The Leonardo ezine referred to here is not to be confused with the MIT publication of the same name at www.leonardo.info. It is a fabrication germinated in the mind of ennyman.