embedded journalists

I feel that there is no correct solution to the possible problem of embedded journalists in the battlfield becoming subjective while living in close quarters with American soldiers. There is no way to regulate the reporter's freedom of speech while reporting from the war front. It is also their responsibility to be as objectvive as they can be. To me this is just another one of these issues that can never be solved. I see the point that Jeff Emanuel is making in his article, "Embedded Journalists won over by soldiers." But if anybody(journalists) is with people(soldiers) in a life and death situation who are partially protecting you and your life and you are watching out for the others(in this case Iraqis), there is almost no way you can be critical. Then again, I think it is different to be critical of war movments decided by government officials and military higher uppers than the soldiers the journalists are with on a day to day basis. Then again, journalists also have to take into consideration which of their articles will be published by a corporate/political agenda based media that may only publish what they want people to see. However, there must be some journalists out there who really do their best to not take sides and publish things as they really see them, but will those things get published?

outfoxed

Today we saw the movie outfoxed in class. I had seen it a couple years ago but it was good to see it again and remind myslef of the atrocities of "fair and balanced journalism" on fox. Media consolidation in my opinion is a huge problem because when the same information is broadcasted on many different t.v. stations, newspapers, and other media outlets that many people read and watch then nobody is really getting real news anymore. Or the news has a "spin" on it as O'Reilly would say, of course he is the biggest info spinner ever. In class I commented and a lot of others had similar comments about how our problem with fox network isn't that it is an obviously right wing scewed network, but the fact that they claim to be fair and balanced and blatantly are not. The main issue that I see with this is not people who are informed and watch fox, but those who may be watching fox for their news outlet and have no idea that the information being divulged is completely one-sided. Especially young people who are just starting to care about what goes on in the world and have not really formed their political opinions yet. Watching fox and similar news outlets may help mold their political positions differently than if they were really getting information from many different sources and opinions.

Tibet-no freedom of speech :(

China has had rule over tibet for 57 years now. The Dalai Lama is in exile. Now China is going even furthur trying to control the Tibetan people (whose religion is buddhism)they are pushing their campaign that requires Tibetan Buddhist monks to denounce the Dalai Lama(their most sacred spiritual leader and head of the religion)and declare their loyalty to Beijing. No free speech in China and the Himalayas apparently. This is so sad to me. I think Buddhism is one of the most interesting religions and what is so ironic is that they are practically the most peaceful people on earth. Have you ever seen a Buddhist Monk walking along and kissing the ground every step? In the last 57 years they have been violentely attacked and had their freedom of religion and lifestyle taken away from them. Now the Chinese government has "pledged to stengthen patriotic education" particularly among young monks to help them become "patriotic, religion loving, and law abiding." according to the Tibet Daily Newspaper.Now the people of Tibet are doing demonstrations and protests in the capital Lhasa and according to Chinese sources 22 people hvae died in these anti-government protests, but according to Tibetans, 140 people have died.