We expect honesty, not horror stories

Published 9:00 pm Saturday, March 15, 2003

Why is network news so biased toward violent and alarming reporting? Why does CNN push its “Showdown with Iraq” segments and neglect a balanced presentation of the facts? Instead of hearing that the Pope strongly opposes a U.S. war on Iraq, we hear about U.S. military force. Instead of hearing why 8 million people marched for peace around the world, we see clips of George Bush saying the same things over and over. What happened to balanced, objective reporting?

Commercial news media make money when they scare us. We get glued to the set to hear about the latest menacing threat to our safety, even if unfounded. The extremely conservative media moguls are also foisting their moral views on the public, which expects honesty and gets horror stories.

CNN, ABC, CBS and NBC are pushing a war that 80 percent of people do not want. With their biased reporting, they have gone beyond sensationalism to try to profit from a course of action that would be devastating. Conservative estimates suggest a cost of $200 billion for a war and rebuilding. Are you willing to pay $1,200 per household for a war that would kill Americans and Iraqis and likely cause more terrorism?

We need to change the channel. Demand honest, balanced reporting that informs rather than frightens us. Choose sources such as PBS/NPR and the BBC. Refuse to have violent, biased reporting enter our living rooms.

Snohomish