This editorial posits that the US media skewed coverage of the Russian-Georgian conflict, raising the "telling detail" of "the consistent portrayal of Russia as the 'former Soviet Union' which is similar to calling Texas a 'former Republic of Mexico.'” Well, not quite, given that Russia's empire is more recent and it's a sovereign nation, unlike Texas. Still it's interesting to see a student newspaper weigh in a serious news item and on how the media is covering it. Most of the media DID play up Russia as the aggressor and pundits raised a legitimate, I think, concern about Russia's quest for renewed geopolitical power. Where this fall short, a bit, in convincing me is in underplaying Russia's role in things, in order to ... More »

This ed. echoes what has been written by others, examples here: http://www.fair.org/index.php?page=3596 and here: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/aug/14/russia.georgia

Unfortunately this article from the Iowa State Daily has all the earmarks of having been written by a student with only limited familiarity with the events in question, let along matters that affect historical perspective. The author objects to calling Georgia "a former Soviet republic," somehow implying that it might be possible, perhaps, to refer to Georgia as a "sister republic with Russia," then attempts to demonstrate (unsuccessfully) that the former Soviet Union played a role similar to Orwell's "Oceana," and finally concludes with a glaring error ("The Soviet Union collapsed more than 25 years ago.) Perhaps the author should have looked up a few more facts in Wikipedia before attempting an in-depth news analysis.

Disclosure statement: I am the director of the Greenlee School, which has no direct relationship to Iowa State's student newspaper, which operates through a Publication Board. However, the Daily has been named the top student newspaper by the Society of Professional Journalists. The students are interested in building trust online, and I have introduced them to NewsTrust.net. In the interests of transparency, Fabrice Florin and I hope that the Daily will take on the challenge of a News Hunt. But mostly, the woman who wrote this op-ed in conjunction with the newspaper's editorial board is interested in your candid, objective opinion. I gave the editorial a top rating because it attempts to argue through a fact base. That is not ... More »

To be fair, I usually don't read editorials. I don't usually care what some random person's opinion/personal rant is. So I have a personal bias against Editorials themselves. I prefer to read things that are (at least theoretically!) unbiased. The authors clearly state their opinion early and often. They claim the fighting is being reported in a particular manner "neglecting to spotlight the fact that Georgia started this fight." and later on when they claim Saakashvili planned an invasion. Clearly they've already decided how they stand and want to share it with you! I agree that there has been a definite trend (at least in US news) to identify Georgia as "former soviet republic". But maybe there's another ... More »

The gist of this editorial is that American media coverage of the Georgian conflict has been unfair; it doesn't actually show that the media 'fuels conflict.' I agree with the general idea and wish the authors had focused on that, giving concrete examples of how the MSM slants reality or leaves out important info. Instead, the article wanders, touching on a lot of interesting themes without going very deep. It also contains inaccuracies. The USSR collapsed almost 17 years ago, not more than 25. Anybody whose country was subject to Soviet rule wouldn't need to be reminded of it.