Is the media broken?
I’m rarely inspired by what I see in the media. Television is supposed to be the most powerful medium—but TV news seems to be anything but powerful. Vanguard is trying to change that. We’re trying to provide knowledge and context about what’s happening in our world as opposed to just covering random news events. We hope our work generates dialogue about the important issues affecting our lives
Today, two videobloggers Laura Ling and Euna Lee were sentenced in the DPRK for crossing into DPRK territory.
As a fan of Current TV who followed the investigative series Vanguard, I am dismayed by the DPRK’s verdict of twelve years hard labor against the two videobloggers. More videobloggers should aspire to pursue investigative pieces like they did. Their example shows how dangerous investigative journalism can be no matter what tools you use or by what medium it is delivered.
However, I still sense a problem with the mainstream media’s coverage of their plight. It seems that this story fit in to a convenient media narrative that I characterize as a modified damsel in distress narrative.Take the case of these two journalists along with Roxana Saberi; attractive and adventurous women — a little too adventurous — are detained by “rogue” states and need to be saved by the generosity and power of America. This narrative serves to personalize “boring” political stories into emotional dramas.
Blogger Glenn Greenwald pointed out in May that Saberi’s plight was used by the mainstream media as a propaganda narrative. Greenwald also elaborated examples where less photogenic journalists –“evil” Arab men in these cases– were detained by the United States without even a pretense of a trial for essentially political reasons. It was pointed out that Sami Al-Hajj –a Sudanese cameraman for Al Jazerra– was held in Guantanamo for six years. Instead of building up a case of him being involved in terrorist acts, his captors attempted to turn him into an informant against Al Jazeera.
Pointing to other governments and highlighting their oppressive behavior can be cathartic, fun and gratifying in a self-justifying sort of way. Ask Fred Hiatt; it’s virtually all he ever does. But the first duty of the American media — like the first duty of American citizens — is to oppose oppressive behavior by our own government. That’s not as fun or as easy, but it is far more important. Moreover, obsessively complaining about the rights-abridging behavior of other countries while ignoring the same behavior from our own government is worse than a mere failure of duty. It is propagandistic and deceitful, as it paints a misleading picture that it is other governments — but not our own — which engage in such conduct.
Today as you remember the plight of Ling and Lee, also remember the plight of all journalists who face state punishment for trying to reveal the truth to the world. Remember especially those journalists imprisoned by a country that guarantees freedom of the press in its supreme legal document.
