By overprotection, the media does us no favors

As author of the “Statement of our demonstration’s purpose” at last Friday’s anti-war demonstrations, I am disappointed that the Register Guard reported only its title and none of its substance.

I am disappointed that the R-G article focused on the orderly mechanics of the demonstration rather than their spirit, as if  riots would have made a better story than thoughtful, deliberate and sober public expressions.

I am disappointed with the pull quote – which was misquoted –  from Peter Chabarek.  Rather than a statement relevant to the violence, destruction and death we abhor, the R-G chose a throwaway remark about police notification.

I am disappointed with the photograph.  We displayed many searing images of the terrible casualties of this war.  But the R-G chose an unimportant and undisturbing image – an ordinary American woman politely subjected to the minor indignity of a misdemeanor arrest.

I am disappointed at the characterization of our images as “props.” These are not stage contrivances. They are photographs of the dead, gravely injured, and grieving survivors of the violence our country has unleashed, both American and Iraqi. They are photographs from the European, Asian and Arab press, seen throughout the world but not in America.  They aren’t propaganda, spin, hype, or peace slogans.  They are undeniable truth, and they aren’t easy to look at.  But if we permit it and pay for it and send our uniformed citizens into it, we must be willing to at least look at it.

Ordinary Iraqis and Americans dying daily without justification are the story, not eleven people arrested for trespassing.

Why must we do this?  Because the American press doesn’t. We shouldn’t have to.  We have other jobs.  It is a pathetic reflection on our media that citizens must commit civil disobedience to draw attention to what should be fully and accurately reported by a professional, independent, competent, searching, uncompromising and – above all –  relevant press.

We demonstrators are not the story. The story is a peer-reviewed study published last year in the British medical journal, The Lancet, finding that some 100,000 Iraqis had perished by August 2004 from our invasion and occupation, most killed by coalition bombing, most women and children.  We provided photographs of a few such victims and their grieving survivors. They are the story.  These pictures need public exposure to awaken the American conscience, a dose of reality the American media has thus far failed in its duty to provide.

The story is a 90% risk of attack or ambush faced by our troops when deployed to Iraq.  We showed the coffins – both American and Iraqi, the missing limbs, the hideous burns, and information on PTSD and other psychological damage that commonly result from such exposure. These are the realities of war into which our troops are sent and the realities imposed upon a nation innocent of any harm to us, 80% of whose citizens want us gone.

Eleven people arrested for misdemeanor trespassing is a trivial story.  The important story is profound and tragic.  But we need the press to tell it.  The media has vast public access and we common citizens do not.  That is why the U.S. Constitution provides the press –  alone among secular institutions –  a privileged status.

Because “A popular government, without popular information or the means of acquiring it, is but a prologue to a farce or a tragedy,” wrote James Madison, principal author of our Bill of Rights.

Washington today is a sad farce and Iraq is an unmitigated tragedy.  That is the story, and the press has a responsibility to tell it.
 

Jack Dresser, Ph.D., was an Army psychologist during the Vietnam War.  He currently works as a behavioral scientist and is a regular columnist for the Springfield News.
 
 

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Copyright 2004 Jack Dresser, Ph.D.