August 09, 2006

Richard Engel on the "Compelling Stories"

We've been seeing a lot of manufactured news lately. Seems like even more than normal--or maybe we're just paying closer attention. At any rate, these comments by Richard Engel of NBC News shed some light on the motivations behind the media's made-up news:

There are very few people left in the villages now. The only people, when we went recently, and found were just young military-age men, most likely Hezbollah or Amal Party fighters. So it is difficult to continue to find compelling stories, but every day the conflict is changing.
Tragic, isn't it? Here we have a perfectly-good war zone, but all the women and children have left! What the hell were they thinking? Don't they know there are deadlines to be met, Pulitzers to be sought and agendas to be pushed? Who's gonna shed a tear over a f#@&!ng crying terrorist? Who's gonna be "compelled" by that story? Who's getting a Pulitzer for that pic? ALMOST NOBODY, that's who. Media is a business. The western media have papers to sell, and that means they need "compelling stories". They need photos of HOMELESS OLD WOMEN and SCREAMING BLOODY BABIES, and they need them NOW.

By Ragnar Danneskjold, Typical Bitter Gun-Clinger at 10:38 AM | |