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moniss

(8,950 posts)
Tue Mar 3, 2026, 02:18 PM 16 hrs ago

Once again our media fails us

when covering this Iran fiasco. They dutifully ask members of the fascist government for justifications for the attacks but then sit like lap dogs and take down and report the shifting justifications. To be sure a few do point out the shifting of justifications however none of them are apparently stiff enough in the spine or agile enough in the brain to react in real time with the most obvious contradiction to the statements by the fascists.

The fascists have said variations of: "It's about the nukes", "It's about regime change", "It's about the missile program", "It's about not being attacked because Israel was going to attack anyway", "They tried to kill the President" etc.

So the media on the scene, and even later, never seem to have the brains, or spine, to say "But your targeting has been civilian infrastructure like water and electricity, apartments, hospitals and schools. What does that have to do with the missile program, nukes, regime change etc.?" or "What proof do you have of an Iranian attempt to assassinate our President beyond vague unsubstantiated claims from Netanyahu?"

Imagine that somebody in the media hears that the claims of the notorious liar and war criminal were used as a justification for our war of aggression but never responds in the moment about the lack of reliability about anything Netanyahu says.

Trying to convince me that blowing up an elementary girls school in a remote area and causing massive casualties has some preventative connection regarding missiles, nukes or assassination attempts is plain BS on it's face but apparently to most media it is something they are told and need a long time to think about.

Likewise going after the water and electricity. Apparently Western media is perfectly willing to accept the notion that the hospitals were somehow connected to the missiles and nukes and therefore need to be bombed.

So the war crimes go on. As in Gaza they want to do the same to Iran. The US and Israel want to see Gaza and the West Bank be part of Israel. They want parts, if not more, of Lebanon, Syria and Iraq to be dominated.

Go back and take a look at the original "partition plan" that was approved and how the US strong-armed and bullied UN members to accept what many predicted as a plan destined for constant conflict and failure and we can see the strategy of purposely creating a situation in which weapons trade would make trillions over the years and the US would be able to "justify" a constant presence.

Splitting the area in such a way as to always have threatened "corridors" between areas is something that would probably seem rational to most of the people working in Western media today. Like bombing a girls school and killing children, bombing hospitals and killing the sick and already wounded etc. in order to stop "nukes".

The only "liberation" planned for Iran involves oil and billions "liberated' into the pockets of evil fascists.

4 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
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Once again our media fails us (Original Post) moniss 16 hrs ago OP
I have known a couple of reporters over the years cachukis 16 hrs ago #1
Are you surprised? NewHendoLib 15 hrs ago #2
Not really surprised. Just considering human nature cachukis 15 hrs ago #3
Not at all but just making it part of the moniss 15 hrs ago #4

cachukis

(3,830 posts)
1. I have known a couple of reporters over the years
Tue Mar 3, 2026, 02:47 PM
16 hrs ago

and spoken to more. My sense is they are not very well versed in the follow up questions or the deep dive. I suspect they don't get many follow ups and don't have a prepared question like we might have, for the unexpected obfuscation.
I have been face to face with a number of candidates in house funding parties with serious questions. Handlers would move in to minimize any missteps of the candidates.
Our TV people often prep analysts as to questions for a segment.
We are unlikely to get much more than what good reporting we hunt out on our own.
Sadly, the multitude of us learn very little because curiosity is often stymied by the system.

cachukis

(3,830 posts)
3. Not really surprised. Just considering human nature
Tue Mar 3, 2026, 03:37 PM
15 hrs ago

and competence.
We gravitate to what moves or entertains us.
I read a lot.
I will turn to the television and come away often wanting. Occassionally, there is insight I've missed and sometimes corroboration or refutation to my own findings. We all need the conversation and frankly, DU is a pretty good resource.
But we are reliant on media for information outside our purview. We are reliant on media to hold leadership to task.
Our media is representative of what we accept.
Our society is moving faster than our ability to fact check. Heard a story on the radio yesterday where a reporter revealed her earlier career where she needed at least two or three verifications. Now we live with a post that captures our world view.
Facts having meaning to a shrinking segment of our society. Identity and emotion are the forces our leaders must gravitate towards to have an influence.
Even academia has been affected.
Witnessing and living in this transition saddens me.
Chuck Todd once let out, if I asked the tough questions I would never get another interview.
The few spines out there get my respect.
Tom Tillis is late to the party, but is getting rave reviews.
We, as a nation, are not what we once were.
There are vestiges, wisps that catch our glances. Hope they catch the eyes when there is still time.

moniss

(8,950 posts)
4. Not at all but just making it part of the
Tue Mar 3, 2026, 03:48 PM
15 hrs ago

written record. I find this all as on par with how Western media reported on Vietnam. I often commented to people at that time that media was giving us hours and hours of coverage/print about Vietnam but after all of it we basically received no education about the people of Vietnam, their culture, history, ceremonies, role in Southeast Asia historically etc. Just stereotypical still shots and video of people in Saigon or in huts/rice paddies while Western voices narrated the portrait of what they wanted us to believe.

Same thing has been done here about people from the Middle East. The constant refrain on TV dramas over the last 2 decades has been cop/spy/intelligence agency shows where it's a constant barrage of "Middle Eastern/Islamic bad guys going to blow us all up" for plots week after week and year after year. So at the end of all of the supposed "presentation/coverage" of this area and the individual countries in particular the vast majority of people in the US if asked the question of whether Iran is mainly Sunni or Shia couldn't answer correctly without looking it up. Let alone realize why the subject matters.

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