Sanchez Blasts Media, But Media Only Highlight His Criticism of Bush | NewsBusters.org
Gen. Sanchez Hits Biased, Agenda-Driven Coverage of Iraq War
By NB Staff | October 15, 2007 - 13:53 ET
The former top U.S. military commander in Iraq, Army Lieutenant General Ricardo Sanchez, addressed the annual conference of Military Reporters and Editors on October 12. While his condemnations of what he called “a glaring and unfortunate display of incompetent strategic leadership” have been widely reported >http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/12/wa...63f&ei=5087%0A <, his criticisms of the media’s Iraq coverage has received far less attention. Here is an excerpt of Sanchez’s speech:

As all of you know I have a wide range of relationships and experiences with our nation’s military writers and editors. There are some in your ranks who I consider to be the epitome of journalistic professionalism -- Joe Galloway, Thom Shanker, Sig Christensen, and John Burns immediately come to mind. They exemplify what America should demand of our journalists -- tough reporting that relies upon integrity, objectivity and fairness to give accurate and thorough accounts that strengthen our freedom of the press and in turn our democracy.

On the other hand, unfortunately, I have issued ultimatums to some of you for unscrupulous reporting that was solely focused on supporting your agenda and preconcieved notions of what our military had done.

........................................

LT. GEN. SANCHEZ: For some it seems that as long as you get a front-page story, there is little or no regard for the collateral damage that will be caused. Personal reputations sometimes have no value. They report with total impunity, and are rarely held accountable for unethical conduct. Given the near instantaneous ability to report actions on the ground, the responsibility to accurately and truthfully report takes on an unprecedented importance. The speculative and often uninformed initial reporting that characterizes our media, appears to be rapidly becoming the standard of the industry.

LT. GEN. SANCHEZ: Once reported, your assessments become conventional wisdom and nearly impossible to change. Your unwillingness to accurately and prominently correct your mistakes and your agenda-driven biases sometimes contribute to this corrosive environment. All these challenges combined create a media environment that does a tremendous disservice to America, in some instances. Over the course of this war, tactically insignificant events have become strategic defeats for our country because of the tremendous power and impact of the media -- and, by extension, you individually, the journalists.

LT. GEN. SANCHEZ: What is clear to me is that you're perpetuating the corrosive partisan politics that is destroying our country and killing our service members who are at war, in some cases.


LT. GEN. SANCHEZ: My assessment is that your profession, to some extent, has strayed from these worthy ethical standards and has allowed external agendas to manipulate what the American public sees on TV, what they read in our newspapers, and what they see and read on the Web. For some of you, just like some of our politicians, the truth is of little to no value if it does not fit your own preconceived notions, biases, or agendas.

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"Some people spend an entire lifetime wondering if they've made a difference. The Marines don't have that problem." Ronald Reagan
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yeah general Sanchez is a good and moral man IMHO

He also said that the Administration would have been court marshalled for the way they have ran this war if they were military .

Sanchez also said he blames the administration for the needless death of many american soldiers.

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Judging by your reply I think you missed the subject.

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No I didn't I watched him on C-span

caught the entire speech.

he slammed the media , the administration , and congress.

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I'll keep challenging

I'll even let both you and cookie gang up on me

A MANAGE A TWAT' (not sure about that spelling :-)

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YouTube - Nightmare Before Christmas the Pumpking:Victory Dance


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Yep, sort of funny. Like the speech that Olympia Snowe gave (shown in its entirety on CSPAN) when talking about more funding for the War...even though she is a Republican...OH, OOPS, sorry, she is against funding a badly prosecuted war so that does not count.

Here's the entire transcript of his speech.

Well of course she misssed it--she does every time--along with all the other libs. I believe the point of this thread would be--that yes Gen. Sanchez did say there were problems in Iraq as well as with the administration. We heard that on every major liberal news network and the headlines on every lib paper read "Sanchez Condemns Iraq"! What failed to make the news report and newspapers was the verbal lashing Sanchez gave out to the liberal media--and in turn the democrats that support them. And what a lashing it was--basically stating how terrorist and democrat talking points go hand in hand--and how much support the libs give to the enemy with their slanted reporting--which shows how much the democrats and media are INVESTED IN DEFEAT.

Thanks upton

I have been looking for a transcript of his speech.

I didn't catch that he gave it to military reporters when I listened to it.

I wanted it to work on a thesis I am doing

Thank so much. You saved me some time.

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