MSNBC’s Ashleigh Banfield acknowledged in a speech covered by the Topeka Capital-Journal that the coverage of the war in Iraq “wasn’t journalism”. It’s nice to see a television journalist acknowledging this fact that has been made plain by many in the print media, and adamantly by those overseas. Our 24-hour cable channels are not practicing journalism (and our network news programs are beginning to cross the line). They are “covering” events, as Ms. Banfield states.

What is painfully obvious is that, at the moment, most Americans don’t want journalism on TV, they want coverage. I wouldn’t necessarily have a problem with this if they weren’t still billing themselves as “journalists”.

She also has the guts to point out that American media outlets fail to help the American people understand the reason for Islamic distrust of America - it’s failure to treat Palestinians and Israelis as equal partners in the peace process. She notes:

As a journalist, I have been ostracized just from going on television and saying, Here’s what the leaders of Hezbollah, a radical Moslem group, are telling me about what is needed to bring peace to Israel. And, here’s what the Lebanese are saying. Like it or lump it, don’t shoot the messenger, but that’s what they do.
It’s outrageous that multiple viewpoints are not tolerated on the Middle East issue. Israel is our ally, it is a democracy. However, it is not the only country in the Middle East. It is treated differently for a reason, but that reason is not understood at all by most citizens of the Middle East. America is viewed to be allowing Israel to get away with murder (literally), while forcing every other country to sit on their hands.

Bravo to Ms. Banfield for her willingness to speak out.

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