Television, War And Truth

Television as a media has long been associated with the ambitions of democracy, public information and free speech. The recent television coverage of the two Gulf Wars and the resulting Iraq social and political crisis has raised questions about truth and reality in television - ideas central to a democratic process. The Arabic television broadcaster Al Jazeera has played a significant role in challenging many held social and cultural assumptions about global television broadcasting, by providing a counterpoint view to events in the Middle East. Using both media and text examples, explain your intellectual position in this current debate around television, war and truth.

Democracy, free speech and public information has been associated with television, but after the truth about the Iraq War was revealed by the Arabic television broadcaster Al Jazeera, and documentaries such as Fahrenheit 9/11 and Uncovered: The truth about the Iraq War, the public in general began to question the truth in television. The consequence of screening the Vietnam War on television has taught the US and Australian governments a valuable lesson: censorship is an imperative method to restrain public knowledge and judgement about war, and this was accordingly implemented during the two Gulf Wars. Reasons as to why images are held back from the public and thus conceal the truth include: sustaining high television ratings and to gain and maintain public support. Such methods seem quite deceitful, but such a technique has its advantages and disadvantages.

The outcome of publicising the Vietnam War was Moratorium marches where the public demonstrated their condemnation of their country's involvement in the war and therefore their disapproval of their respective Governments. Andreas Zumach said in his article "From Vietnam to Kosovo: Media and Propaganda in Times of War" (2000), that by publicising the Vietnam War it ultimately indirectly ended it: "Images of incredible suffering of both the Vietnamese and the American and allied soldiers could be seen in millions of households. One could argue that the kind of coverage by the major television networks (CBS, NBC, and ABC) finally played a very important role in ending this war by eroding public support for it..."

The everlasting images broadcasted from the Vietnam War included a naked girl fleeing from a napalmed village (Trang Bang), her clothes burned off her, the Saigon Police Chief shooting a suspect in the head at point-blank range*, the body bags loaded into helicopters day after day. Images such as these have a negative impact on people as they are disturbing and emotional- they show the effects of war and thus the truth. These images prompt people to question the politics that lead to armed conflict, and thus for the Government/(s) involved it is an important basis to censor images brought back from war.

The two Gulf Wars (02/08/1990-28/02/1991 and 19/03/2003-present) were not so publicly televised in the Western World, especially in regards to Iraqi civilian casualties. The images broadcasted from the Vietnam War are in a dramatic contrast to the images the Western World viewed from the Gulf Wars- the images of missiles flying towards their targets with precise accuracy, images of a silent, deathless, harmless war played out on the other side of the world. As George W. Bush said, "Nobody likes to see dead people on their television screens. I don't" (13/04/04). This is another reason as to why television can sometimes hide the complete truth: television is all about ratings. If people see a gruesome image on their television screens, they would most likely turn it off- television producers obviously would not want this, so they broadcast the opposite to keep ratings up.

Anecdotes of injustice that happened during the first Gulf War did not begin to surface until after the war was finished, and such stories were not shown on news programs that reached wide audiences. One such account was told by Mike Erlich of the Military Counselling Network, who testified before the European Parliament in March- April 1991:

"Hundreds, possibly thousands, of Iraqi soldiers began walking toward the U.S. position unarmed, with their arms raised in the air in an attempt to surrender. However, the orders for this unit were not to take any prisoners... The commander of the unit began the firing by shooting an anti-tank missile through one of the Iraqi soldiers. This is a missile designed to destroy tanks, but it was used against one man. At that point, everybody in the unit began shooting. Quite honestly, it was a slaughter".

The Arabic television broadcaster Al Jazeera, which is not bound by laws of censorship as networks such as the BBC and CNN are, has provided the residents of the Middle East with a counter view to the atrocities and happenings in their region as put forward by the Western World broadcasters.

Al Jazeera says on their official website that "Truth will be the force that will drive us to raise thorny issues, to seize every opportunity for exclusive reporting, to take hold of unforgettable moments in history and to rekindle the willpower within every human being who strives for truth." This belief is further affirmed in an article, "Al Jazeera Code of Ethics" (15/07/04) which is a list of ten ethical commandments, including number two- "Endeavour to get to the truth and declare it in our dispatches, programmes and news bulletins unequivocally in a manner which leaves no doubt about its validity and accuracy" and number nine- "Distinguish between news material, opinion and analysis to avoid the pitfalls of speculation and propaganda." These codes portray the honesty and straightforwardness of Al Jazeera in comparison to major Western broadcasters who report what the Government allows them to report.

The Western media never reported the case of Razek Al-Kazem Al-Khafaji*, who lost 15 members of his family as his pickup was bombed by a helicopter , or the case of Ali Ismaeel Abbas*, a 12-year-old Iraqi boy whose entire family (including pregnant mother) was killed by an American missile. Ali was left orphaned and crippled with terrible burns and no arms. His treatment at Kindi Hospital in Baghdad was covered by media from around the world. The case of Ali was discussed on the floor of the British Parliament. However, it never appeared on US television . What the media did report on was how the military rescued Jessica Lynch* a 19-year-old army private who was captured by Iraqi forces at the beginning of the war.

Another example of how Al Jazeera differs from Western broadcasters is a comparison of the headlines for November 17, 2004. They include: 'Kmart is buying Sears', 'Western