When Images Compete

When Images Compete as Fiercely as Armies
By Jefferson Morley

WashingtonPost.com

Thursday, March 27, 2003

"The business of reporting and interpreting the serious news of war has been transformed into a mishmash of emotional cheerleading, expressions of primordial tribal and national identities, overt ideological manipulation by governments, and crass commercial pandering to the masses in pursuit of the audience share needed to sell advertising,"

That sums it up, the establishment of Al Jazeera, and other Arab news networks has turned the current Iraqi war into a battle in itself. American and foreign media are fighting for the story. Unlike most of American networks however, these other networks are providing pictures and stories of carnage from the war.

The foriegn affiliates were showing bodies and various imagery that would make most Americans turn away. However these images seem to capture a large audience supposibly seeking both sides of the story.

The foreign based stories show what the Arab world wants to see, images that will bolster the anti-American sentiment that seems to be universal around many places in the Middle East. While Arab news networks argue that reporters in the United States are just as biased against them.

What is clear though is one thing. The networks whether American, Arab, or other foreign nations, depict the images and report the stories that they feel their people would want to see. They report the news to profit, not necessarily for journalistic integrity or even the sake of news at all, the all mighty dollar rules.