Visualizing History

The last few days we had the opportunity to hear some interesting dialog concerning the Freedom of Speech in the information age. The symposium was sponsored by the McCormick Freedom Museum and included conversations concerning free speech on the internet, blogs, and the traditional press, the Fairness Doctrine, reporting in times of war, and campaign finance reform. Over all I think the symposium went very well, but in my opinion (and that is what this blog is about) the most interesting and timely conversation was with Time Magazine reporter Michael Scherer. Michael spoke to the development of the internet as a source of information to include, not surprisingly blogs, websites, peer networking and the like. He seemed to grasp the power of the internet better than his colleagues, and it was very interesting to watch Michael present his case to many individuals who are not comfortable with technology. The world is fundamentally changing and this will, and already has affected the way students learn, and he way we should teach. I disagreed with Michael in that I do not think most Americans go online to become informed, republican (small r) citizens, Michael seemed to have too much faith in the rationality of America.

We also had the opportunity to hear NBC News correspondnt Pete Williams address his views on reporting in times of war. Being a former Marine I have very strong feelings on this subject and believe that cameras on the battlefield are not in the best interest of preserving our democracy as the panelists suggest. Mr. Williams was very sympathetic to the fact that soldiers and Marines should not be shown being blown up or dying on the battlefield, as this would have profound negative impacts on the families of those involved, however how do yo regulate this? One aspect of the conversation that was not addressed is the fact that I believe “embedded” reporters generate interest in the boradcast networks programming by appealing to the lowest common denominator. If Americans want to see combat join the Marines or rent a movie, we are talking about someones life. I think we should let the generals and individual Marines do the incredably hard job they have been trained to do, armchair generls sitting stateside are not going to improve the outcome on the battlefield or promote democracy, it seems to me that there is a political aspect to this conversation, one I don’t care to go into at the moment. If networks were so interested in the things they claim to be then why don’t we see the embedded repoteres in Iraq today? Answer, it is old news and most Americans don’t care to watch anymore.