EL TIEMPO LATINO'S WISE WORDS

Read this article by Jorge Ramos Avalos on the dilemmas facing the American press with respect to coverage of the war in Iraq. Nothing ground-breaking, just basic. Money line: "Debemos decir solo lo que vemos y lo que oímos, y no lo que otros quieren que digamos." The difficulty with this stance, as someone like Chris Hedges will tell you, is that exposure to the sensory data of war tends to punctuate the heroic myths that are necessary to keep war attractive. Journalists have always been involved in the propogation of reasons and justifications for war (and this is why I can barely watch or read anything from CNN of MSNBC right now, to say nothing of other major media sources). But journalism that focuses on what is actually "seen" and "heard" in war will probably end up reporting many horrible things that conflict with official versions of events.