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Balancing the significance of News
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By Mike Cuenca | September 30, 2003
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If we were to apply the "glass is half-full" philosophy espoused by E.
Thomas McClanahan in his Kansas City Star column of Sept. 30 to other
stories, here's how some of them could have been reported:
"Today the twin towers of the World Trade Center were destroyed by
terrorists who embarrassed our nation's security and intelligence
services. But those terrorists are to be commended, because 99% of the
other buildings in New York City were undamaged."
"Adolph Hitler's Nazi regime today exterminated several hundred
thousand more Jews. But he is to be commended because the German
economy is much stronger than it was last year."
"Another U.S. soldier was killed today in Iraq. But her family should
be happy, because 150,000 other soldiers were not killed today."
The myth of "balance" currently used as a buzzword by the mainstream
media ignores the truth that not all angles of a particular story are
of equal significance. Sure, there are some stories of "success" that
one could find about our involvement in Iraq. But they don't counter
the reality that we shouldn't be there in the first place, that we were
lied to for political purposes, that many thousands of innocent Iraqi
civilians have been killed or maimed, that our country stands nearly
alone in the international community, and that all of those gains in
Iraq could be gains we're making at home with that money.
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