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Agreed. Made 'custom' for the tech crowd. Almost every image is accompanied by the words "A Free Syrian Army fighter ..." because you know, without those words

Agreed. Made 'custom' for the tech crowd. Almost every image is accompanied by the words "A Free Syrian Army fighter ..." because you know, without those words we might confuse them with terrorists or guys from Palestine fighting Israel. Don't get me wrong, I strongly believe the people of Syria have a right for their own freedom, but it is striking how selective our news is. Ben Ali, the dictator from Tunis was supported by the West for 23 years, as was his neighbor the dictator from Egypt, as is Saudi Arabia, hell even Saddam was. It's not just a war over there. There's a war for your minds as well. Reminds me of the famous "incubator story" where Iraqi soldiers stole incubators from hospitals in Kuwait and left the premature babies to die on the floor. Never happened, but was crucial for the public opinion in the West. Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nayirah_(testimony) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nayirah_(testimony)

nayefc 14y ago
This article is proof to how controlled, biased and disgusting media in America is.
- digitalengineer 14y ago
  Why only America? Okay, they're by far the best in media, marketing and communication, but still...
  - nayefc 14y ago
    No country or region has perfect media, but the one here in America is absolutely disgusting. I mean, are you kidding? Have you compared American media to British for example? Do you see the quality of news here? Or worse, how controlled the media is? Compare BBC or the Economist to any American outlet. Or even better, compare them to Democracy Now <-- real independent media.
    - berntb 14y ago
      I'm not sure I agree -- from my perspective, the US left seems as crazy as the US right. As a Swede, I follow NY Times and BBC to compare with the Swedish daily media, for the laughs -- it is like laughing at mongloids doing pratfalls. :-( I think I could do the same with most other countries' media.
- Symmetry 14y ago
  It's certainly true that the American media has a pretty big bias towards rebels in non-democratic states, but that doesn't mean that they're being controlled.
  - patmcguire 14y ago
    The American media holds "comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable" almost up there with objective truth. It's definitely not a bad principle on the whole, but you can generally predict an article's take from that.
- noonespecial 14y ago
  The difference is that in America you can watch Al-Jazeera or the BBC or even TeleMundo(1) as well. Sometimes people forget this when they complain about media bias. It could be much worse. Imagine a country where the only news you can watch is a government approved faux-news(2) channel. (1) TeleMundo is also American but has a somewhat different ideological slant. (2) For fun, pronounce that with the X and imagine that this was the only news network you were permitted to watch. How different would your world-view be?
  - mindslight 14y ago
    ... with the net effect being that people believe they are choosing media of their own free will, and therefore much less likely to question what it says. Even though all of the major culturally-sanctioned channels are advocating a consistent bias, their emphases create an illusion of variety. I doubt people in places with state-controlled media tune in and think they're getting the whole story. In the Western world, we've moved beyond the battle for facts - the battle is for control of their interpretation.
  - nayefc 14y ago
    If you want to argue that America is better than countries like Cuba, then you win. I was comparing America to other rest of the developed world (i.e: non-government controlled media). And by controlled, I mean controlled by corporations such as News Corp and not the government. Well, that is probably the case in most countries. And that sucks.
- inafield 14y ago
  And Al-Jazeera isn't? All news media is biased.

nayefc 14y ago

This article is proof to how controlled, biased and disgusting media in America is.

digitalengineer 14y ago
Why only America? Okay, they're by far the best in media, marketing and communication, but still...
- nayefc 14y ago
  No country or region has perfect media, but the one here in America is absolutely disgusting. I mean, are you kidding? Have you compared American media to British for example? Do you see the quality of news here? Or worse, how controlled the media is? Compare BBC or the Economist to any American outlet. Or even better, compare them to Democracy Now <-- real independent media.
  - berntb 14y ago
    I'm not sure I agree -- from my perspective, the US left seems as crazy as the US right. As a Swede, I follow NY Times and BBC to compare with the Swedish daily media, for the laughs -- it is like laughing at mongloids doing pratfalls. :-( I think I could do the same with most other countries' media.
Symmetry 14y ago
It's certainly true that the American media has a pretty big bias towards rebels in non-democratic states, but that doesn't mean that they're being controlled.
- patmcguire 14y ago
  The American media holds "comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable" almost up there with objective truth. It's definitely not a bad principle on the whole, but you can generally predict an article's take from that.
noonespecial 14y ago
The difference is that in America you can watch Al-Jazeera or the BBC or even TeleMundo(1) as well. Sometimes people forget this when they complain about media bias. It could be much worse. Imagine a country where the only news you can watch is a government approved faux-news(2) channel. (1) TeleMundo is also American but has a somewhat different ideological slant. (2) For fun, pronounce that with the X and imagine that this was the only news network you were permitted to watch. How different would your world-view be?
- mindslight 14y ago
  ... with the net effect being that people believe they are choosing media of their own free will, and therefore much less likely to question what it says. Even though all of the major culturally-sanctioned channels are advocating a consistent bias, their emphases create an illusion of variety. I doubt people in places with state-controlled media tune in and think they're getting the whole story. In the Western world, we've moved beyond the battle for facts - the battle is for control of their interpretation.
- nayefc 14y ago
  If you want to argue that America is better than countries like Cuba, then you win. I was comparing America to other rest of the developed world (i.e: non-government controlled media). And by controlled, I mean controlled by corporations such as News Corp and not the government. Well, that is probably the case in most countries. And that sucks.
inafield 14y ago
And Al-Jazeera isn't? All news media is biased.