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Published April 2003 in The Post-Star newspaper Exploiting war for ratings COMMENTARY STACEY MORRIS It was meant to be funny, the split-screen image that made the e-mail rounds in recent weeks showing President Bush in the oval office, a telephone receiver pressed to one ear. On the other side of the screen was Saddam Hussein, also holding a phone to his ear and standing knee-deep in bombed-out concrete rubble. From Bush's end was the caption: "Can you hear me NOW?" It was a little comic relief started by someone who probably meant it to alleviate some of the stress and uncertainty that have marked these past three weeks. The political depiction probably would have been funny 20 years ago, but the world is a vastly different place than it was during the Reagan era ... for better and for worse. It's always been easy enough to assign world leaders to roles equivalent of WWF superhero and villain. But it's a mistake to carry the black and white proclamations any further. It's nothing new for satirists to make caricatures out of leaders, but now the trend is to reduce serious world events into a sort of video game. Anyone who's watched a news network can attest to the garish machinations of explosive graphics accompanied by symphonic overtures that ooze melodrama. It's a sensuality that actually steers us farther from reality -- specifically, the realities of war that are often censored. And when they're not, we try like the dickens not to see them. Last week, USA Today ran a prominent photo of dead Iraqi soldiers on its front page. The bodies were twisted grotesquely in rigor mortis. The sight was raw and gut-wrenching. Subsequently, the paper was flooded with complaints. Why, readers asked, had they run a shot of U.S. soldiers standing side-by-side with smiling Iraqi children on an inside page? The answer was simple, according to the paper's editors. The day before, there had been a preponderance of bloodshed and death in the war with Iraq -- so why sugarcoat it? There's been the embarrassing in-fighting and network plugging as the war rages on and soldiers and civilians lose their lives. When Geraldo Rivera was banished from the frontlines for possibly endangering the troops, rather than feel repentant, he inexplicably lashed out at his former NBC colleagues on the air. Did you catch Ollie North in his fatigues interviewing Marines as they attempted to get through a day's work? Shoving a Fox microphone in their faces, he implored each Marine to conclude the questioning with a heartfelt "Fox Rocks!" at the camera. It's sad, but all too true. When the media's not overproducing their shows, the staff are on the frontlines in an appalling display of one-upmanship. Let's remember, we're at war; there are more pressing issues than a ratings skirmish. We're making another attempt to export democracy. It's been a grisly haul and if Wednesday's news footage of Iraqi citizens pummeling the toppled statue of Saddam Hussein is any indication, it's an overture that's being welcomed with open arms. I hope it sticks and that we won't pull another roguish love 'em and leave 'em move like we did nine years ago. Who knows how long we'll remain at war? As long as we do though, it's in everyone's best interest to remain embedded in reality. Are we listening? And do we want to see? |