Secrecy and conspiracy complaints aside, the American media have it pretty good. The situation worldwide serves to show both media supporters and detractors that when a government tinkers with its watchdog, the public feels the bite.
In Venezuela, leader Hugo Chavez pulled the license for Radio Caracas Television because it was allied to his political opposition. In Russia (where several reporters have been killed), journalists were ordered to do a 50-50 split between real news and news that cast the country in a good light — and never mind that protesters were being arrested, among them “Other Russia” leader Garry Kasparov. And according to the Associated Press, the Iraqi government has been limiting media coverage of bombing attacks.
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Iraqi Interior Ministry official Abd al-Karim Khalaf told Iraqi media in mid-May the government was not limiting press freedoms. Nope. Denying access to bombing scenes was all about “protecting evidence” and privacy of victims. Oh, and assuring the safety of journalists, 102 of whom have died in Iraq since 2003 (BBC).
These goals are laudable enough, but they could be met with a little common sense. An outright prohibition — and a system by which the government picks and chooses what is newsworthy — is not the way to accomplish anything meaningful.
It was Khalaf’s final excuse that gives the most pause: limiting media coverage is the same as “depriving the militants of a possible propaganda tool” (AP).
How many times have we heard this argument — that telling the truth, that showing the aftermath and human toll of an ugly conflict — “helps” the enemy? What it really helps are those (such as terrorists) who would minimize the consequences of their decisions. Indeed, the ministry’s argument can be turned on its head thusly: the more devastation seen, the less sympathy for those who caused it.
Chavez, a loose cannon on a good day, was even more blatant. The RCTV station, he claimed, was “coup-plotting.” Or, to put it another way, it was “biased” and its journalists, “treasonous.” The fact that its license was promptly turned over to TVES, a state-funded channel? Well, never mind about that. And, while you’re at it, kindly overlook the fact that TVES was launched by Chavez himself.
The Venezuelans, however, weren’t willing to be that passive. They rallied in the streets against Chavez’s move and RCTV plans to fight. “This government,” RCTV’s leading executive Marcel Granier told the London Times, “is full of fear, it can’t stand criticism.”
Vladimir Putin’s Russia seems to have a similar problem. In addition to dictating what kind of news should be covered, Putin’s government recently ordered the Russian Journalists’ Union to leave its headquarters. Poised to take over the space was Russia Today TV, a pro-government station. The eviction was possible because the government owns the building — another prime example of why government and the media should not mix. The problems in Russia have led to resignations by journalists who rightly claim they cannot do their jobs.
That job is to tell the truth, warts and all.
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