Afstan: Canadian media coverage of our casualties
Seems something less than, shall we say, disinterested reporting. Two comments from a thread at Army.ca (an unofficial site):
1) All day I saw pictures of the coffins in transit and then I get to hear CTV proclaiming Harper is Bush lite and he's trying to hide the coffins.
they actually used the phrase "Canada's Iraq"........
2) Rant on:
Once again, I'm fed up and disgusted with the media and their "spinning" of non-issues into something more. Yet again, TV tonight is awash with "Conservatives won't lower the flag" stories - presented with no background and with plenty of people saying what an "insult" it is to soldiers. They have no idea what soldiers think of this issue, yet are ready to jump to conclusions in an effort to speak for us.
To the media reading this (and I have no doubt you are): how much is enough? You have plenty of coverage of the coffins being put on the plane and I have no doubt you'll have plenty of the funerals - invited or not. Get a grip. We are the Army; it is a sad reality that part of our job is to take casualties on behalf of Canadians and our elected political masters - of whatever stripe. Don't denegrate that sacrifice with an unseemly and politically motivated display of spin designed to promote controversy and generate ratings. "Canada's Iraq" indeed...
Rant off.
Cross-posted to Daimnation!
1) All day I saw pictures of the coffins in transit and then I get to hear CTV proclaiming Harper is Bush lite and he's trying to hide the coffins.
they actually used the phrase "Canada's Iraq"........
2) Rant on:
Once again, I'm fed up and disgusted with the media and their "spinning" of non-issues into something more. Yet again, TV tonight is awash with "Conservatives won't lower the flag" stories - presented with no background and with plenty of people saying what an "insult" it is to soldiers. They have no idea what soldiers think of this issue, yet are ready to jump to conclusions in an effort to speak for us.
To the media reading this (and I have no doubt you are): how much is enough? You have plenty of coverage of the coffins being put on the plane and I have no doubt you'll have plenty of the funerals - invited or not. Get a grip. We are the Army; it is a sad reality that part of our job is to take casualties on behalf of Canadians and our elected political masters - of whatever stripe. Don't denegrate that sacrifice with an unseemly and politically motivated display of spin designed to promote controversy and generate ratings. "Canada's Iraq" indeed...
Rant off.
Cross-posted to Daimnation!
posted by Mark, Ottawa at 8:42 p.m.
1 Comments:
I'm of two minds on this issue (although I've never been in the military nor have any of my immediate family, unless two uncles count). I prefer the non-lowering of flags as it matches the longer tradition, yet I still would like to see the fallen honored somehow, not just by their families & the military, but by citizens. What do you see as an appropriate response to this?
And I agree, it's absolutely mindboggling how many pictures of flag-draped coffins we get to see. One would think we'd lost a hundred or more, if you turned the sound off and didn't know it was the same coffin(s).
It doesn't help that one of the families has jumped in on the media side (okay, Liberal/NDP), but from their perspective, I can understand the "how come everyone except my son" point of view.
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