SOMEBODY IS LYING

Depending on where you live in the world, you would be getting different "diagonally" opposite reports on the progress of the ongoing war in Iraq. In this information age, there's not only a physical military war... but also there's a mental pyschological war going on between the US & its coalition of willing (read Britain and Spain) and Iraq. US says "we have total control over Baghdad" and Iraq denies that saying there is no US military presence in Iraq... Well, atleast this is understandable because propoganda can be considered one 'art' of war and we as the viewers are all victims or players in it.

But the thing that I am at awe is how much information is manipulated and delivered to the audience to the news outlet's advantage - or lack thereof.

I was listening to CNN (less and less now-a-days as its not at all objective; But we dont get BBC or SkyNews around here) yesterday night. CNN's Amman Correspondent Rym Brahimi (I believe thats the correct name) was just coming on to air while we could hear someone telling her that the Iraqi government has decided to close Baghdad from 6PM and 6AM. That was the news. She delivered that and we could see that in the ever-annoying news ticker (When are they going to go away?). But later some other reporter (I believe it was Fredericka Whitfield) reported the same news as "Iraqi government has banned all its Baghdad citizens from leaving the city from 6PM to 6AM".

This is just one example of how news is being twisted (as they call it editorialized) and delivered to the masses. There are very few independent reporting being done...

As someone rightly put, if you listen to western media, you hear the victory of the war... if you listen to the arab media, you hear the victims of the war... Well said indeed!

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