Iraq Imagery Upset
Why should we have the "balance" of imagery in Iraq that Mortimer B. Zuckerman proposes in "The Tyranny of Imagery" [October 30]? What difference does it make if there is some positive news when Americans are dying every day? What difference does it make that villages are "restored to life" and there is "progress in the schools"? Why is the welfare of Iraq our business in the first place? Why should Americans be dying to save Iraqis from themselves? What difference does it make that there is some positive news that is being neglected in the media? Progress in schools versus endless deaths every day is not a reasonable trade-off.
BOB BOWSER
Flagstaff, Ariz.
Although I agreed with Zuckerman's suggestions to the military and government policymakers to improve communication on their own behalf in the Iraq situation, I couldn't believe the pass he gave himself and his profession. According to Zuckerman, the acknowledged fact that news organizations regularly misrepresent the factual picture of the Iraq war is a problem best fixed by the government. Zuckerman avoided taking personal responsibility for the incomplete picture painted by his profession yet gave advice about how to overcome the false picture the media spent considerable effort creating. Before you remove the speck from another's eye, remove the plank in your own eye.
BOB HECK
St. Louis
Zuckerman's editorial pages were a jeremiad about the state of affairs in Iraq. It was pointed out that "the violence ... is terrible." The next statement is that TV journalists are drawn to conflict and drama. Zuckerman also said that "it shouldn't obscure the fact that much of Iraq is relatively peaceful and that progress in many areas-restoration of infrastructure, building of schools-is being made." Certainly there has not been much evidence of that. I am a regular reader of your magazine but can't recall that we have had much in the way of this kind of reporting.
ZERKA T. MORENO
Charlottesville, Va.
advertisement