Zero Accountability

I remember when I was younger, sometime around 2003 when America was gearing up for the invasion of Iraq, hearing about this strange news organization called "Al Jazeera". It sounded suspiciously like "Al Qaeda", and indeed some people, including Donald Rumsfeld, were actually comparing it to some kind of propaganda engine for the terrorist organization. Somehow, no one seemed to correct this flat out lie, and that impression stuck with me until years later when I finally realized that not only was Al Jazeera a credible, world-wide news organization, but that it was less biased and had a far better depth of coverage than any American news outlet. I had forgotten about this act of demonization, but was reminded by it while reading a news story today about the refusal of American cable companies to carry Al Jazeera English on their networks.

This makes me wonder - in this "age of information" where knowledge is freely available to anyone - at least to anyone in America - (if not through the television networks, but through the internet) how is it possible for people like Donald Rumsfeld to go on National T.V. and blatantly lie, and no one seems to hold him accountable? The American public I can understand - most people rely on American broadcast news stations or their local newspapers to get their information (if they are interested in the news at all), and I believe the American media does a horrible job of holding our politicians and government to any kind of scrutiny, but what of the informed people in America? Have they no voice in the mainstream media? It appears they do not. As another example, this one more recent, the story of the so called "Kill Team" that have been accused, and so far at least on person already convicted of, murdering innocent Afghan civilians for sport. It took a German newspaper to break this story, and weeks later and I've seen very little of it mentioned in the American media - but the latest person voted off American Idol is a headline story. Where is the outrage? Why does it seem that no one is demanding the military explain why it took a German Newspaper to reveal these atrocities, and question had this story not been broken would the American public ever had known about these events?


And further, where is the accountability? The accountability of the military, of our government and of our media. It seems to me sometimes, that given enough time when attention spans have waned, there is none. Former U.S. weapons inspector in Iraq Scott Ritter gave a talk at my school a few years ago, and one of his topics was this very same issue - of holding the government accountable for its actions and failures. I asked him how one is supposed to do so, and his answer I think was both realistic and honest - by simply being informed. Its easy for Donald Rumsfeld to go on T.V. and claim Al Jazeera is a terrorist news station, or point to a map of some amourphous shape which you're told is Iraq, and say "WMDs are here, here and here." if his audience cant even find Iraq on a map. To try the same trick on someone who was informed about Iraq at the time or a reader of Al Jazeera, however, would have been completely absurd. Politicians, the military and the government can never be held accountable if the average person is too ignorant to even realize that they're being taken advantage of.

This is where the American media fails so miserably. Although, I have to question whether "failure" is the correct term, because often I feel the media intentionally neglects to point out when the government lies, or when our troops commit horrific crimes, or when its blatantly obvious that there is more to be said than has been. This is what really baffles me, and its something I don't quite understand. Is it that the American people just dont want to hear about these kinds of stories, and its a ratings issue? Does the government pressure the major news outlets not to cover these stories, or cable companies not to allow Al Jazeera to be broadcast on their networks? Does the media ignore these stories for their own agenda? I really don't have a clue, but it is incredibly frustrating to me at times, and I suspect it is some combination of the three. I've personally give up watching CNN or any other American News station - that's my way of holding them accountable for their lousy reporting - I won't give them any ratings - but it seems that many people don't share my feeling of dissatisfaction as these news channels get huge ratings.

Perhaps I'm wrong about the American public - maybe they are more well informed then I assume, after all my peers are mostly dumb twenty year olds who mainly rely on facebook banter for their source of news (and I will gladly lump myself in with the dumb twenty year olds part), but honestly I don't think I'm all that far off. Of course, a lot of what I am reacting to comes from reading Rashid, and I have the benefit of hindsight and informed sources telling me about how things really happened but still, are people not accountable when they lie and manipulate the American public, regardless of whether they are currently in office or not, and when we learn of past lies and untruths, should we not be wary of our current officials and hold them to an ever higher standard?