Some thoughts on Television and America

Edward R. Murrow once said of television that it has the ability to teach, to illuminate, and to inspire people.

This instrument can teach, it can illuminate; yes, and it can even inspire. But it can do so only to the extent that humans are determined to use it to those ends. Otherwise it is merely wires and lights in a box. There is a great and perhaps decisive battle to be fought against ignorance, intolerance and
indifference. This weapon of television could be useful. Stonewall Jackson, who
knew something about the use of weapons, is reported to have said, "When war
comes, you must draw the sword and throw away the scabbard." The trouble with
television is that it is rusting in the scabbard during a battle for survival.

I believe Edward Murrow was correct concerning television and indeed the battle for survival for survival he spoke of in October of 1958 has come. This battle has come in the forms of the War on Terror and the War in Iraq.

It is has been said that support for the war in Iraq has been flagging in the polls whether this downturn is justified is not for me to say. I would comment only that television is being improperly used in these two instances because it does not teach, illuminate or inspire in any way the populace of the United States to learn.

Indeed the loudest voices are either those on the far right of the political and social spectrum or those on the far left of those spectrums. The great mass of individuals that occupies the center has been muted. The reason for this is the great indifference and apathy that pervades through the middle of the spectrum.

The popularity of shows such as Survivor, The Great Race, and Lost seems to indicate that the public at large is allowing themselves to be isolated and insulated from those events that have an effect on our daily. For example, I hear many people complaining about the high prices of oil and gasoline. Yet, I have not heard the question, why are oil and gasoline prices high from the public at large there have been individuals who have asked the question but, as of yet there have not been whole segments of the population that have asked with one voice such questions.

Yet it is not solely the fault of the the public at large. A share of the responsibility rests with the network executives and reporters as well because, many have forgotten the duty and responsibility they possess to be the catalyst for debates on social and political issues that inspire individuals to take a stand. However, journalists must undertake this responsibility with great care because with due diligence being accorded to examining both sides of an issue because, in and of themselves words can be persuasive as Edward Murrow remarked

To be persuasive we must be believable; to be believable we must be
credible; credible we must be truthful.

It seems as though journalists sometimes forget these lessons as the election night coverage of the 2000 presidential election by CNN and Dan Rather's now discredited report on the military service of President George Walker Bush.

Eric Sevareid in his final broadcast as part of CBS News on 30 November 1977 laid out some rules that he adhered to in reporting

The rules are self imposed, these were few: Not to underestimate the
intelligence of the audience; and not to overestimate its information;
to elucidate when one can more than to advocate; to remember always that the
public is only people and people only persons no two alike; to retain the
courage of one's doubts, as well as one's convictions in this world of
dangerously passionate certainties; to comfort oneself in times of peril with
the knowledge that the saving grace of the press, print, or broadcast is a
self correcting nature and to remember that ignorant and biased reporting has
its counterpart in ignorant and biased reading and listening. November
30, 1977

I would argue that the nation as a whole is not served by television seeks not to teach not to illumine and not to inspire but to merely isolate the individual by replacing true reality with a scripted one that is escapist in nature.

The resulting programming fundamentally underestimates of the intelligence of the audience and provides less than adequate information to the public on the issues that are foremost in the consciousness of the people.

Indeed I would assert that the public is unable to go to the polls in an informed manner because of an indifference on the part of the majority of Americans that occupy the center. The indifference that pervades the center of the American sociopolitical system I would argue is reinforced by the predominant place given to escapist programming on television and that the television networks with the exception of PBS and a variety of specialized networks are neglecting the responsibility they have to assist parents, teachers, and clergy in their roles as educators of the youth of America.

What does this have to do with the War on Terror, the War in Iraq and the genocide Darfur. Edward R. Murrow envisioned a television that served as an educational tool.

If we are to be successful in rooting out the terrorists and their agents the American people must be educated and learn about the various groups involved. The best way to know about these enemies and to defeat them is to understand the way our enemies think, and feels to that end it is important the American people be educated in the history, social practices, mores and values of Americas enemies such as al-Qaida, the Taliban, the militias in both Iraq and Sudan and compare them against the mainstream of Islam illustrating them for what they are heretics who pervert the message of Islam.

Also, the United States must utilize the media as a tool for psychological warfare that can be used used to destroy the morale of the enemies that are facing the United States because, as General Thomas Jonathan Jackson once said:
"When war comes you must draw the sword and throw away the scabbard." Only by employing this idea along with Philip Henry Sheridan's belief in a type of warfare in which one of the primary goals is to seek out and destroy the flow of aid to the enemy will the United States be successful in Iraq and Afghanistan. The conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan are not merely conflicts that have their genesis in differing belief systems and systems of conduct. The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are wars for the hearts, minds and souls of the citizens of Iraq and Afghanistan.