Media coverage of the war.

[raghar]

Originally posted by Jon Miller
never again will a democracy win a war if Osweld has his way

Jon Miller

So litle faith in abilities of your army?

[General Ludd]

Originally posted by Jon Miller
never again will a democracy win a war if Osweld has his way

Jon Miller

1) Reporters would report Iraqi activities just as much as american.

2) The native Iraqi media is going to be reporting american activies anyways.

[Jon Miller]

Originally posted by Osweld


1) Reporters would report Iraqi activities just as much as american.

2) The native Iraqi media is going to be reporting american activies anyways.

do you not understand the concept of intelligience?

and what makes you think that Iraq (and other nondemocracies) will allow reporters to report anything in their armies

am I right in guessing that you did not come to this site for Civ?

Jon Miller

[Dinner]

War zones are not play grounds. People get shot and killed and if a reporter is going to cover it from the front line then he's going to have to follow orders and do as he's told. Other wise you'll have idiot reporters running up to soldiers, turning their flood lamps on "so they can get the shot", and the illuminating fighting positions.

Like it or not reporters are civilians and all civilians are best kept way from the front line.

[General Ludd]

Originally posted by Jon Miller
what makes you think that Iraq (and other nondemocracies) will allow reporters to report anything in their armies

Good to see that the USA is taking example from a "brutal dictatorship that kills it's own people".

I said it should not be done in a democracy, because it is keeping the population ignorant and unable to make a decision. My very point was that censorship is something that is only done by dictators and fascists.

[loinburger]

Originally posted by Jon Miller
never again will a democracy win a war if Osweld has his way

I think that's the idea.

[Dinner]

Originally posted by Osweld
My very point was that censorship is something that is only done by dictators and fascists.

Osweld: That is a rather daft thing to say. Censorship happens all the time and in many cases it is a good thing. Do you really want children to see alcohol and cigarette commercials during Saturday morning cartoon? How about porn advertisements on every station during any show?

Those are just two examples of censorship which society has determined to be desirable. Saying all censorship is bad is all well and good but it is also a very simple minded catch phrase.

[DanS]

The whole game here is what Al Jazeera is going to report to the entire Arab world. They will be with American troops.

[loinburger]

Originally posted by Osweld
I said it should not be done in a democracy, because it is keeping the population ignorant and unable to make a decision.

If I'm playing a card game, then I'm sure as hell not going to go showing my cards to everybody. Maybe you do show everybody your cards, in which case you're welcome to join in our weekly poker game any time you want.

[JCG]

If there was a way so that ONLY the citizens of the democracy in question got full access to the information, then sure, go for it.

But in real life, that can't be done safely without leaking possibly crucial data (troop movements, etc.) to enemies and spies, so it's a very unworkable idea.

[Dinner]

Originally posted by DanS
The whole game here is what Al Jazeera is going to report to the entire Arab world. They will be with American troops.

That's right! All we're going to give them is another opportunity to make propoganda out of nothing. The Al Jazeera's of the world wil have a field day and Saddam's state run news (not to meantion the rest of the Arab world's state owned news services) will continue to hide their own guilt.

[DanS]

All we're going to give them is another opportunity to make propoganda out of nothing.

One of bin-boy's mantras was that the US was too cowardly to fight a land war. Of course, this is news to us, especially considering the ass beating we gave Hussein in '91. Apparently the Arab world didn't see what we saw.

[Dinner]

They saw it the same as we did but it soothes their egos to conveniently forget about it.

BTW since the topic is media coverage of the up coming war, how much propaganda mileage will the typical anti-American groups make of Saddam's new war plans? Apparently he has decided his army can't win a fight so he has moved them out of their bases and is spreading them out among civilian populations. This is a blatant violation of the Geneva conventions requirement that military authorities attempt to protect civilians when ever possible. Saddam is parking SAM batteries right next to hospitals so he can win propaganda points with gullible young leftists.

[DanS]

They saw it the same as we did but it soothes their egos to conveniently forget about it.

Where did they see it? Certainly not through independent sources like Al Jazeera. Don't think too many Arabs had satellite TV until later in the 90s.