Blame (all of) the American Media

Last week while we were at the beach we caught a little cable--the perfect addition to our family vacation when we live a cable-less life here at home.

I wanted to find out more about what was going on in Lebanon so I turned to CNN (perhaps some of the brethren might protesteth at my choice of cable news programs, but stick with me here). I was completely unprepared for what I saw--not the violence, but the coverage. In the midst of a potentially explosive situation that could have long-range effects on dozens of countries in the Middle East (and from there to the rest of the world), the only thing CNN was talking about was the (relatively) small number of Americans in Libya trying to get out.

CNN managed to make a story involving the deaths of dozens of Libyans with ramifications the size of a regional war all about America and Americans.

It's not only that these folks were ridiculously whiney (whiny?) about the process (see Bart's blog for a great post about that) but that the news-shapers somehow made it all about us, even though it wasn't. It wasn't even like there was a story about Americans getting out and then another story about the actual conflict. There was just the lead story about Americans escaping Libya, and then off to Christy Brinkley's latest divorce (which, I certainly agree, is tragic).

I confess that I didn't switch to Fox News to see if it was any better, but I deeply doubt that it was. I find it interesting that so many Christians think of Fox as the more Christian-friendly since it's politically more conservative. When Fox initially began their television broadcasting they were lambasted by conservatives (both Christian and not) who objected to the questionable content. Fox launched a news service to counter-balance CNN's admittedly liberal bias because there was money to be made there. You've got to get news from somewhere, fair enough, but let's not pretend that Fox News is suddenly the Christian-friendly source. They provide a service that fills a void in the market and makes them money.

Maybe U.S.-centric coverage is the only way they can get anyone in the U.S. to care about Middle East goings-on (it's all about ratings that lead to revenue, after all) but you'd still hope that someone with a shred of journalistic integrity could at least work in something of a story about the actual conflict.

For those interested in an actually thoughtful perspective on the issues, check out these articles by a Lebanese evangelical who was teaching at Fuller Seminary and got stuck here because of the air strikes. Click here for the initial article. Then check out a response article and then his final comments here.