It may only be slightly related to the Israel/Lebanon conflict that dominates so much news today, but I thought this was interesting. It’s an excerpt from an old 60 Minutes displaying one side’s effort to incite public outcry against the violence they were subject to. Apparently it happens often and has been coined ‘Pallywood’.

I’m not trying to pretend like I have any real convictions about the issue, but this is just one more example of something that makes me hesitant to rely on standard media to bring me news. I hardly ever pick up a newspaper. I don’t have cable so I don’t watch news on TV either. The majority of what I read comes from random sources on the internet. Some part of me feels a little less adult if I’m not starting my morning with a cup of coffee and the morning paper.

Is it possible for anyone reporting news to be truly unbias? When you are working at it, I would propose no. What I mean is, the moment someone digs deeper than what they have experienced things get messy. If perhaps news was reported as sort of a personal journal and only the happenings of an individual were related then we would be left with something much more pure. Emotion might be the only influence on the facts, but even that would add a much desired dose of reality to what we read about all the time.

Blogging comes to mind. I wish I had a few links of some of the more popular ones I’ve stumbled across. I’m thinking of writings from a young man simply trying to live in a war zone or a relief workers account of trouble in Uganda. Of course news liek this would make it difficult to get the inside scoop on GW’s motives for the war in Iraq. Maybe then we would have never heard so much about Clinton’s escapades with his intern… Now that I think about it, my complaint only pertains to a couple subjects in the news. Politics and national/international affairs. I’d sooner trust 100 voices reporting from all over the world than the 30second bites offered up during the six o’clock news. I hate how close media has come to entertainment…

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