Lessons from the War Zone

This was an essay written by Farnaz Fassihi, and he talked about what good journalism was like, as he was taught in school. He briefly compared the differences of the American press with journalism outside of America. He writes, "The American press, on the contrary, prides itself on reportage that is independent, free, objective, balanced, fearless, and truthful" (166).

Upon reading the essay, one would already be able to conclude that Fassihi takes his job seriously. He was very reflective in the way he questioned where he stands as a journalist, whether his citizenship or his job come first. What I found the most interesting was when he writes, "We find the right words to depict the horrors of war in spite of the military minders and government officials who try to muzzle us and feed us their perspective" (168). There they are, trying to do their jobs, yet the military tries to censor them. Is it not part of their job description to give their audiences raw, unbiased news? At the war fronts, are they not supposed to be our eyes and ears? I understand that military censorship - or censorship by itself, for that matter - isn't new in any media. But trying to omit important information such as the status of the war in which family members may be playing an active role in is not immoral. Those soldiers are dying at war, and yet their superiors don't want the people back home to know what they're going through? What the hell kind of world is this? With the taxes I'm paying they wouldn't even tell me the truth about what the hell is really going on out there?

Going back to the top... I'm sure the American press could be objective, fearless, and truthful, but having the military tell them what to write on paper, or otherwise be accused of treason, doesn't really make them seem like they're all that objective, fearless, and truthful. I wouldn't wanna be jailed for being honest. Then again, it defeats the purpose of giving clean, untainted news. Ugh, such hard decisions journalists face.

Anyway, I read the essay and I thought to myself, "Time to take over the world." Yup, I'm gonna create myself a utopian nudist community where everyone will live in peace and harmony without censorship. :D