"A blow for the war on terror" (?!?)

[merchimerch]

I really just can't believe our media this morning. A judge rules that the wiretapping of US phones by the government without warrants is unconstitutional (finally). In my mind this is a step in the right direction in terms of getting our civil rights and liberties back. I notice that the print media has taken a fairly neutral stance to this, but the television media is touting this in terms of "a blow to the war on terror," something straight from the president's spin doctors.

I turned on ABC news this morning briefly - that's ABC, not FOX news - and the lead in to this story was "and up next a major blow to the war on terror." My heart lept to my throat as I thought I was going to hear about some plot that succeeded and caused horrible damage or civilian casualties. No, what I go on to hear is that a judge ruled that domestic warrantless wire tapping is unconstitutional. What scares me most about this is the phraseology - everything the judge ruled was stated as an opinion "what this judge is saying is that President Bush is acting like a king," for instance. President Bush's party line, however, is treated in much more direct statements, which tend to imply fact and truth rather than opinion. The result was the most bias I have ever heard in journalism.

Yes I picked this up because I firmly believe that this is a victory for liberty rather than a loss in the war on terror, but the fact remains that the spin in the televised media is out of control. I believe that most Americans get their news from TV rather than print or online sources. So what does this mean for our populous? What does it mean when the president's opinions are phrases as inalienable truths not just by his administration, but by the media? The allusions to Pravda during the Stalin era (ironic to have a newspaper named "truth," no? Does it remind anyone of Fox News' "fair and balanced promotions?).

Benjamin Franklin's well known words just keep ringing truer and truer: "any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both."

Comments

[wdomburg.livejournal.com]

Not to nit-pick, but the original quote is actually: "Thoſe who would give up Essential Liberty to purchaſe a little Temporary Safety, deſerve neither Liberty nor Safety."

[(Anonymous)]

That'll teach me to verify quotes using the interweb ;)

[elissali.livejournal.com]

while I am equally scared by the spin, I *am* glad to hear that the wiretapping was ruled unconstitutional. That freaked me out more. This means that no matter how screwed up the media is, or the administration's political machine, or no matter how biased the supreme court is in the conservative direction... at least they made a decision that I agree with, and checked the power of the executive branch. we'll see what happens when we look to the supreme court to protect our reproductive rights, but at least they came through here.

Just my first thoughts about what you've said. I hope that things don't continue this way for too much longer... I wonder what the media will start doing when we have a new president.

[avivalasvegas.livejournal.com]

it was a trial court decision -- so it is possible that the case could reach the Supreme Court and that the ruling given by the judge yesterday could be reversed. but fromt the article I read, it sounds like there might be new legislation that would create a "secret court" (not my words!) that would issue warrants. ugh.

between this and the JonBenet crap, I'm hating the media more than usual this week.

[elissali.livejournal.com]

yeah, I realized later that it wasn't the Supreme Court...

and I totally agree about the media. I was just having lunch in the UCen with my friends, and they have CNN on a projector, and it was really sickening. The things they were showing we so... not important, in the scheme of things.

[merchimerch.livejournal.com]

what will be even more frightening (and telling) is if the supreme court does overturn it. That will show that the appointment of conservative activist judges is a move that has paid off in spades for the hard core neo-cons.

[groblek.livejournal.com]

Actually, we already *have* a secret court that issues warrants for this sort of thing - the refusal by the administration to run these wiretaps past them is, I suspect one of the reasons for the ruling.

I too am disturbed by the spin on this - I hadn't realized that our media was quite this much in lockstep with the prez. NPR was doing a pretty good job of keeping it just a factual reporting, from what I heard when listening, and I'll confess to not paying attention to major network news sources anymore.

[merchimerch.livejournal.com]

It is scary isn't it. I rarely pay attention to television news anymore - NPR on the radio and BBC's internet service give me my knowledge of the great big scary world.

I think that is what makes the TV news such a stark contrast. Perhaps there was a more gradual those who watch TV news regularly for their information (which I assume is the bulk of Americans). Regardless, I suppose I always thought of Fox news, with Rupert Murdoch at its healm as the outrageously biased one. Perhaps everyone just followed suit when they realized what profits (and perhaps kickbacks) Fox was making. Regardless, it is scary - and it makes me understand a lot better why your average joe, who doesn't go to the internet for news and just watches TV in the evenings to relax and catch up on the happens of the day probably supports the Prez a little more than most of the people I know. I don't mean to condescend the 'common man,' since I do think that just about everyone mistrusts the media right now (it was funny, I was talking to a conservative LDS friend of mine and we totally agreed about how evil and sinful and biased the media was - we just disagree on which direction the bias fell) , but I do think it has an effect.

[avivalasvegas.livejournal.com]

apparently this would be a different secret court -- I definitely recall hearing the question of why these had to be issued without a warrant when a court already existed that would have rubber-stamped them anyway? bizarre.