The truth about the truth.
I am beginning to tire of hearing reporters blame something as vile as treason on something as noble as truth. They insist on reporting sensitive information that invariably proves harmful to America’s fight against terrorism and then justify doing so on the basis of accuracy.
First of all, reporters should always tell us the truth. Doing so isn’t cutting edge; it’s not some commendable above-and-beyond style of reporting. In fact, it ought to be the status quo. But regardless, the issue at hand isn’t one of veracity anyway, it’s one of discretion.
While we’re all very impressed by the lengths to which reporters will go in order not to lie to us, simply reporting “truth” fails to take into account such factors as sensitivity and potential fallout. Wars are won or lost on such things as secrecy so, given the press’s ravenous appetite for publicizing U.S. wartime secrets, it will be very difficult to successfully prosecute this war. At best, the media are an albatross necklace; at worst, a coalition of treason.
The essence of the problem is a lack of discretion (intentional or otherwise). The major media outlets are making no distinction between truth and disclosure as they barter government secrets for higher ratings and increased circulation. Simply because something is true does not mean it should be public information.
Reporting without discretion used to be confined to the tabloids, but with the media’s growing antipathy for the President, that is no longer the case. It’s time reporters started acting like adults and quit risking American lives for the sake of their personal political agendas. Much of this sensitive information is benign in secrecy but dangerous when made public, yet the “reporting” continues. Make no mistake — their irresponsible words are fueling anti-Americanism both at home and abroad, though I strongly suspect this has been their intent from the beginning.