It's Not America's Story: Liberal Media Shortchanging the Public, Military
Ventura Star, June 20, 2005
By Terry Paulson, PhD

I've been reluctant to publicly criticize Newsweek for their unsubstantiated story about the defamation of the Koran by U.S. interrogators in Guantanamo. The Newsweek article did not cause the deaths in Afghanistan, but the article was used by individuals to fuel their violent demonstrations.

The free press in America is both one of our major strengths and one of our most frustrating curses. We experience both the benefit and the repercussions that this freedom creates. It used to take days for news to travel allowing emotions and reactions to be held in check by distance and time. Today's global news network allows news to travel within minutes to any place in the world. The emotional reactions to such reports may result in name calling in America, but in some parts of the world, those same reports contribute to violent clashes.

It took the comments of visiting Afghan President Hamid Karzai to crystallize my thinking on what bothers me most about our media's coverage of our war for peace and freedom in Iraq and Afghanistan. When asked about anti-American fervor in his country as a result of the Newsweek report, Karzai did not blame Newsweek or America. Instead, President Karzai gave a powerful defense of America and a lesson in individual responsibility. "Of course, we are as Muslims very much unhappy with Newsweek bringing a matter so serious in the gossip column. It's really something that one shouldn't do, that responsible journalism shouldn't do at all," President Karzai said at his joint Washington press conference with President George Bush. "But the Newsweek story is not America's story. That's what we understand in Afghanistan. America has over a thousand mosques. I have gone and prayed in mosques here in America; I've prayed in Virginia; I've gone and prayed in Maryland; I've been to a mosque in Washington. And thousands of Afghans have been to mosques here in town, and as a matter of fact, tens of thousands of Muslims are going on a daily basis to mosques in America and praying. … There is this freedom in America for religion, and there are Muslims, …and there are Korans, Holy Korans all over America in homes and mosques. … On the issue of prisoners, it does not reflect at all on American people. On the contrary, it's an individual act."

The Newsweek story is not America's story. The treatment of Iraqi prisoners at Abu Ghraib is not America's story. The selective glorification of military deserters now living in Canada is not America's story. That our country is ready to repeatedly hold individuals accountable for their abusive actions is the American story. We do not condone or honor such actions; we abhor them and punish individuals when found guilty.

Unfortunately, the American media is all too ready to find any example of abuse or inappropriate behavior by any soldier, government agent or corporate contractor and to use that individual act to paint all Americans with the same brush! They search for any evidence that will further their mission to derail Bush's war on terrorism! As with Dan Rather's infamous 60 Minutes phony National Guard report and the retracted Newsweek column, far too many reporters seem willing to disregard longstanding journalistic standards to report what they want to say, no matter how weak the evidence or anonymous the source. The liberal media seems all too eager to believe the most exotic rumors about our President and the U.S. military, even when those rumors cannot be verified. Columnists on the opinion pages of our newspapers have a right and an obligation to argue passionately about all things political. But journalists are supposed to bring some semblance of balance, accuracy and professionalism to their coverage of the news.

Unfortunately, far too many Bush-bashing journalists, eager to destroy the public support for the war, are forgetting what their comments are doing to our military troops in harm's way. Unlike Vietnam, our soldiers are using military blogs to talk back! The disgust for the media can be seen in the comments of one sergeant on his blog: "I have placed my life and the life of my fellow soldiers in danger in order to achieve a measure of the freedoms we enjoy at home for the Iraqi and Afghani people. As soldiers, we all understand that we may be asked to participate in wars that we don't agree with. The irresponsible journalism being practiced by organizations such as Newsweek, however, just inexcusable. At this point, because of their actions and failure to follow up on a claim of that magnitude, they've set the process back in Afghanistan immensely…."

On this Memorial Day, the greatest gift the media can give America is to honor those who have lost their lives in support of freedom by returning to their mission of honestly reporting facts instead of furthering their own pet political notions. Keep us informed by giving us the facts and let us decide for ourselves.

Dr. Terry Paulson is a psychologist, speaker and author of The Dinner: The Political Conversation Your Mother Told You Never to Have

—May we never forget how truly blessed we are!