CNN-Live from Baghdad

CNN is a broadcasting station that over time has been criticized and praised for its actions. Some say that CNN expresses too many stories from a liberal view point, and then others from a highly conservative side. The critics feel that CNN is trying to please everyone, though mostly from a liberal agenda. Others say that what CNN is doing is how news should always be reported; from both sides and for the most part that is what CNN is trying to do.

 

The movie Live from Baghdad is a good example of this quality of CNN, because while the main character, Robert Weiner, is trying to find a ground breaking story, he really just wants to get to the truth of the whole situation. While the movie does an excellent job of displaying the work it takes, and the danger involved, in getting to the good stories, it also gives a little of a background with its characters.

 

There is always a battle in broadcasting the news, between what people want to hear, and what people get to hear. Live from Baghdad shows how hard it is to find what people need to hear to understand the situation. CNN does a nice job of completing a story from both sides, and understanding the truth.

Barbara Walters

News coverage, which is something that is supposed to bring truth about issues to the public, has turned into entertainment. While the news can be entertaining, the choices of what to cover should not be for purely entertainment reasons. Originally television news stations broadcasted information about world leaders, wars and global issues; today the news is filled with celebrity gossip and silly stories whose main purpose is to pull heartstrings. Many newscasters have been criticized for following the trend of covering gossip stories, but the truth may be that the world is changing and for people to stay on top and be able to cover hard-hitting news, they might have to cover softer issues too.

 

Barbara Walters is an excellent example of this. Throughout her years in the news business she has one too many awards to count, and she has covered some of the most important issues of our time. Some of her stories may have swayed a little to the other side, and have felt very close to gossip, but in the over all picture, her accomplishments are amazing. Just a few of her many awards include:

• Part of the NBC News Team sent to cover President Richard Nixon’s  historic visit to the People’s Republic of China in 1972
• Arranged the first joint interview with Egypt’s President Anwar Sadat and Israel’s Prime Minister Menachem Begin
• Interviewed 6 presidents, as well as British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, and Russian Federation President Boris Yeltsin,
• National Association of Television Program Executives Award
• International Radio and Television Society’s Broadcaster of the Year
• International Women’s Media Foundation Lifetime Achievement Award
• Academy of Television Arts and Sciences’ Hall of Fame

While her accomplishments are mind boggling, her faults are also present too. Throughout her many years in the business Barbara Walters has had her less than golden moments. She is known for asking Monica Lewinsky what kind of tree she would be, and for having trouble separating her celebrity and professional lives. Also some say she adds too much entertainment into her news stories. My thought is, if she has covered some of the most important news stories during her career then why not add in a couple of the softer stories if it keeps people paying attention to the more important issues. The viewers will just have to remember that television is not always truthful, and neither are the people who are viewed on it.

 

Waterboarding

Love for one’s country can make a person do many extreme things, and while they are usually good there is always the case where someone takes it too far. After September 11, 2001, the country united and people felt that security was the number one priority, but      the worry of terrorists proved to be too much. New torture techniques have been introduced to get information from terrorists, which the CIA has been proven to use. One of them is waterboarding, which is defined as a form of torture that consists of restraining a person on their back and forcing their head backwards. Water is then poured over the head and into air passageways. The person inhales water and suffocates; this gives the feeling of drowning in a controlled atmosphere. Some people, the Bush administration included, have stated that this is a necessary action to protect our people. Many others have raised the question, “If we follow in our enemy’s barbaric footsteps how do we justify our war against them?” The House has taken measures to prevent waterboarding from being used, by passing a bill prohibiting such torture methods. The President’s administration put out a statement saying “that such regulations would prevent the president from taking the lawful actions necessary to protect Americans from attack in wartime”. While there might be people opposing this bill, you might want to remember that the whole reason this was brought up was that the CIA destroyed tapes of sessions where waterboarding was used. This brings up one more question, “If the use of waterboarding is necessary and practice of it is not unlawful, then why did they feel they needed to lie about it?”

  

1. How far is too far, when you are protecting his country?

2. Was the CIA right to destroy the tapes of waterboarding?

 

Digitization

Digitization plays a major role in everyday life from iPods and downloading music, to reading books online. I could not imagine my life without everything digitized. My iPod is always by my side, and I love to read online.  It is impossible for me to remember a time when I could not search the internet for anything I wanted. While I have never had to personally deal with extreme problems caused by digitization, they do exist. Our entire lives are becoming digital; I know that personally I spend hours each day on the computer or listening to my music. Digitization has caused many problems in today’s society, because when information is made digital anyone can access it, usually for free, and that is where the problem of ownership comes in. When information is made digital, people are not getting paid for their work, or products, like they formerly were; an example is when books are made digital, and authors that used to profit from the selling of said books are now cut off. This trend will continue to move forward, molding the world into something we can barely imagine today. Digital information is the future of our world, and those who do not embrace it will be left behind.

Timothy Treadwell

Timothy Treadwell may not have behaved in a traditional manner with wild animals, but throughout history many cultures have viewed animals in a much different sense than today’s society. His respect for the animals showed he knew right from wrong and the fact that he lived safely with them for summers on end showed he had enough common sense to stay safe. He shared his views openly and without worrying about approval from others. His car for his “family” of bears showed compassion and patience in an eccentric way, but yet a way, deep down, we all wish we had the courage to join him in.

            Many people have tried to argue that Timothy Treadwell is in fact insane, but he has never really given any reason to doubt the sanity he displayed on numerous accounts. Treadwell never mistreated the bears nor did he ever provoke them in any way. He knew when to keep his distance and how to respond when they did become close. Treadwell also understood how dangerous his work was. He understood that he could have been killed at any moment, as he stated numerous times in his video footage. He did not fear dying with or for the bears, for his only motivation in life was to be the “protector of the bears”.

Genocide

Genocide is a term that the world does not wish to hear, and yet it surrounds us constantly.  It fills our history, haunting our actions, past and present. Whether or not it is officially named genocide it is still a travesty that the human race should be superior to.  As humans we pride ourselves on being the best at everything, which seems to include being the best at killing each other. Genocide has occurred, and is occurring, numerous times without being officially identified. 

While everyone needs to do their part in the prevention and termination of genocide we unfortunately must be realistic to our situation. President Bush’s actions on officially naming the killing of Armenians almost 100 years ago are a necessary action, but not during a time of war when our energy and resources could be put to better use.  President Bush got us into the mess we are in with Iraq and while naming Turkey’s actions genocide would be the “right” thing to do, in our current situation it is unrealistic.  If the United States wishes to maintain what little influence we have in the Middle East we will need Turkey as an ally.

While it is our job as a world super-power to help those who can not help themselves, we must take care of our own country first so that we are capable to come to the aid of less fortunate countries.

Happiness?

Happiness is an illusive trait that seems to be impossible to measure and yet desirable to obtain. Each human being views happiness differently and there has been a trend lately in surveys relating to happiness. The surveys show that women are becoming unhappy while men are becoming increasingly happier. While this may seem like a good thing to a man, to a woman it is a dismal outlook for the future.  Different proposals have been brought forth as an explanation to this growing “happiness gap”, though few of them actually seem to fit the whole picture.

            In an article written in the New York Times, a valid point was made about a woman’s role in society. The article described how women now have dual roles; they are housewives and career women.  The business world is molding to the idea of women being equals in the office, now society needs to view them as equals at home.  Throughout history women have had the responsibility of keeping a home, now if everything is going to continue to run smoothly men will have to pick up some of the slack.

            Another article points out the changing and yet growing pressure on girls today. It discusses the lives of young, intelligent, beautiful, driven girls trying to get into college while being told they need to be perfect to achieve all that they wish to.  It touches on how these great opportunities offered to women today also add a huge amount of pressure that has continued to build until the point it is now.  Should teenage girls really have to feel that they need to be perfect to be accepted? I don’t think so and I don’t think society should ask it of them either.

If America is going to worry about the growing “happiness gap” then it had better be prepared to change the way it looks at a woman’s role in society.  After all we are not super heroes, we can not do everything, and though we may try to be perfect we fortunately never will be, that would be a little boring don’t you think?