[Media-watch] Reporters may fear looking unpatriotic

[Julie-ann Davies]

>From the Lexington Herald-Leader - Nothing posted on Univesity website as
yet. http://www.uky.edu
___________________________________


http://www.kentucky.com/mld/heraldleader/news/8426046.htm

Posted on Wed, Apr. 14, 2004

Some at UK [University of Kentucky] meeting say reporters fear looking
unpatriotic


By Art Jester

HERALD-LEADER STAFF WRITER


About 50 people, some of them opponents of the United States war in Iraq,
met at the University of Kentucky last night to discuss criticisms of U.S.
news media reporting on the war.

The event, sponsored by the UK Media Research Group and the Central Kentucky
Council for Peace & Justice, involved two hours of discussion after a
30-minute film that accused U.S. news media of failing to show the "true
face of war" -- the casualties and mayhem inflicted on Iraqi civilians.

Bob Topmiller, a history professor at Eastern Kentucky University who served
as a medic in the Vietnam War, said the U.S. military is "trying to convince
us that we're fighting a war without trying to hurt people."

Topmiller said the drawback of having journalists "imbedded" in U.S. combat
units in Iraq is "there's no way they're going to criticize the military."

Two Herald-Leader staff members who have covered the Iraq war -- reporter
Tom Lasseter and photographer Pablo Alcala -- were not invited to last
night's event. The organizers said that was an oversight that would be
corrected for future events.

Ron Smith, a longtime producer and news anchor at WEKU-FM (88.9), said some
journalists "are afraid that their patriotism will be questioned if they ask
the wrong question."

Several in the audience, some with Arab or Islamic connections, expressed
fear of reprisals if they speak out against U.S. foreign policy.

Anisa Al-Khatab, a retired education professor at EKU, said U.S. news media
are waging a campaign of "misinformation" about the war.

UK journalism professor Buck Ryan said it is virtually impossible to arrive
at the complete truth in something as confusing as war, but he urged
patience and recommended that each person go to several sources for news.

Part of being an intelligent news consumer is to read sources with
conflicting viewpoints, several people said.

Adel Iskandar of the UK Media Research Group and co-author of a book about
the Islamic Al-Jazeera news agency, noted that people often develop
loyalties to news outlets much like their loyalties to political
affiliations.

To get at the most complete news, Iskandar urged the audience to "drop your
loyalties and investigate information that may be infuriating to your
comfort zone."


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