An Open Letter To The Media by Charlie Daniels [font="verdana, arial, helvetica"]<B>By Charlie Daniels
CNSNews.com Commentary
(Editor's Note: The following is a March 4, 2003 letter by entertainer Charlie Daniels.)</B>
I thank God for freedom of the press, unhampered by government control. It is a blessing, which is non-existent in a lot of countries.
But with freedom comes responsibility, and in the case of the media this should constitute fairness, telling both sides of the story. Opinion and agenda driven journalism should be relegated to the editorial page.
The American people need to know the truth, the whole truth, which means reporting things which go outside the boundaries of personal politics. Even if it makes the other side look good once in a while. I'm glad to see Fox News come on line; at least they usually give both sides of the story. They are often accused of being a conservative network but the truth of the matter is that this nation has not heard TV coverage which has not been tilted to the left in so long that when they do get fair and balanced coverage to some liberals it seems conservative.
For instance, the other night one of their correspondents interviewed some of the anti - war protesters asking them what the alternative to going to war with Iraq would be. The standard answer was, "I don't know."
So here are a bunch of young people out in the street demonstrating against a war and they don't even know why. Does this make any sense and why didn't Peter Jennings and company talk to some of these people?
And I don't mean that Fox is perfect but they sure report more of the news than the other channels do.
And why doesn't the media tell the truth about abortion, that it is profit driven and why can't they show a partial birth abortion? Too gruesome you say? Well just how gruesome is it for the baby who is being cruelly murdered?
And why do they try to pillory a man like Billy Graham who has devoted every hour of his adult life to good works, by quoting an old statement, which was taken out of context concerning Jews. Billy Graham loves the Jews and Israel, the media knows that but they just don't care. I think that's not telling the whole story, irresponsible journalism.
And what about coverage of the Islamic prisoners in Guantanamo Bay? Why don't they tell the military's side of that story?
And why do they follow Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton around like loyal puppy dogs ignoring Jackson's shady financial dealings and Sharpton's propensity for causing violence?
And why do they love to tell us bad news about the economy when there's also good things happening?
I know the reason why. The network news and many of the large newspapers in this country have a liberal political agenda and they know that if the news is presented fairly that you'll be less likely to swallow their line and go along with their thinking.
The front page of a newspaper should not look like the editorial page. Think about it, do you ever wonder why The Washington Post and the New York Times seldom have anything good to say about President Bush? Doesn't he ever do anything which deserves praise?
And do you ever wonder why they never say anything bad about Hillary Clinton? Doesn't she do something once in a while which deserves criticism?
Think about the kind of America these people are pushing for and be extremely careful how much of their coverage you believe.
Is it the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth?
What do you think?
God Bless America
Charlie Daniels
target=_blank>http://www.cnsnews.com/ViewCommenta...M20030307e.html[/font]
CNSNews.com Commentary
(Editor's Note: The following is a March 4, 2003 letter by entertainer Charlie Daniels.)</B>
I thank God for freedom of the press, unhampered by government control. It is a blessing, which is non-existent in a lot of countries.
But with freedom comes responsibility, and in the case of the media this should constitute fairness, telling both sides of the story. Opinion and agenda driven journalism should be relegated to the editorial page.
The American people need to know the truth, the whole truth, which means reporting things which go outside the boundaries of personal politics. Even if it makes the other side look good once in a while. I'm glad to see Fox News come on line; at least they usually give both sides of the story. They are often accused of being a conservative network but the truth of the matter is that this nation has not heard TV coverage which has not been tilted to the left in so long that when they do get fair and balanced coverage to some liberals it seems conservative.
For instance, the other night one of their correspondents interviewed some of the anti - war protesters asking them what the alternative to going to war with Iraq would be. The standard answer was, "I don't know."
So here are a bunch of young people out in the street demonstrating against a war and they don't even know why. Does this make any sense and why didn't Peter Jennings and company talk to some of these people?
And I don't mean that Fox is perfect but they sure report more of the news than the other channels do.
And why doesn't the media tell the truth about abortion, that it is profit driven and why can't they show a partial birth abortion? Too gruesome you say? Well just how gruesome is it for the baby who is being cruelly murdered?
And why do they try to pillory a man like Billy Graham who has devoted every hour of his adult life to good works, by quoting an old statement, which was taken out of context concerning Jews. Billy Graham loves the Jews and Israel, the media knows that but they just don't care. I think that's not telling the whole story, irresponsible journalism.
And what about coverage of the Islamic prisoners in Guantanamo Bay? Why don't they tell the military's side of that story?
And why do they follow Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton around like loyal puppy dogs ignoring Jackson's shady financial dealings and Sharpton's propensity for causing violence?
And why do they love to tell us bad news about the economy when there's also good things happening?
I know the reason why. The network news and many of the large newspapers in this country have a liberal political agenda and they know that if the news is presented fairly that you'll be less likely to swallow their line and go along with their thinking.
The front page of a newspaper should not look like the editorial page. Think about it, do you ever wonder why The Washington Post and the New York Times seldom have anything good to say about President Bush? Doesn't he ever do anything which deserves praise?
And do you ever wonder why they never say anything bad about Hillary Clinton? Doesn't she do something once in a while which deserves criticism?
Think about the kind of America these people are pushing for and be extremely careful how much of their coverage you believe.
Is it the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth?
What do you think?
God Bless America
Charlie Daniels
target=_blank>http://www.cnsnews.com/ViewCommenta...M20030307e.html[/font]
