Reply #14: Nah

[Jcrowley]

Sometimes on television, what is not seen is as important as what is seen. The images to the right of this article where never shown on American television during the 2003 war in Iraq. Television coverage of the war showed many things, however, much was left off the air. The reason none of these images were shown on TV is not out of any great patriotism by TV networks or some conspiracy between TV and the US government. Television, at its core, is about ratings. Television producers are not concerned with what people want to watch or what people should watch, but with what people will watch. Eyeballs on the screen.

The images to the right of this article are both disturbing and emotional. They show the effects of war and they show the truth. These pictures were taken by media from around the world as well as respected American news agencies like the Associated Press and Reuters. They were mostly found around the Internet from independent websites, however many were found on Yahoo! Pictures. Many of these images are hard to view. Many of them make me cry.

The reason pictures such as these were not shown on television was because of how they make people feel, not because they were obscure or because TV producers didn't have access to them. The images to the right show the effects of war in its bloodiest and heart-wrenching form. These pictures should make thinking people question war and question the politics that lead to armed conflict. To many people, these hurtful images will make them feel bad. These pictures are hard to look at and bring up hard questions.

Television is a simplistic medium. Television is not meant to bring up hard questions or make someone feel bad. If people feel bad while watching TV, they'll turn off the set. Producers of war coverage don't want the TV sets off -- they want them on! The only way to keep people watching is to make people feel good about war.

http://www.turnoffyourtv.com/commentary/wartv3.html

Television is pretty ridiculous in all it's incarnations. But at least it keeps folk from seeing how badly they are being bled to death by their corporate paymasters. Nice trick huh?