Preventive Journalism
It seems odd to speak of "preventive journalism" and preventive democracy in the same breath when it is a known fact that the media anre more focused on conflict and controversy than peace. War has become defines as news while peace certainly has not. What is good for the world, in other words, is not necessarily good for the news business. News contimually generates hostile feelings in the people that it reaches. International relations have moved out from behind closed doors and onto television screens, moving public opinion into the center of policy making so that journalism and diplomact are more closely linked than ever before. An early warning approach to news coverage is essential to spread the mass of public knowledge and support required to inspire institutions to make decisions. Television, newspapers, magazinges, and new electronic devices are needed to detect and relay the first signs of trouble in order for people to take the necessary action for their own defense. What this electronic acceleration means is that troublesome new trends must be seen at a much earlier stage if there is to be any opportunity of altering their course and controlling outcomes. Problems cannot be left to fester until they are turned
into disasters and then uncontrollable violence. The only way to effetively carry out this crucial role is by "preventive journalism." If journalism is able to catch a crisis before it erupts and appeal to the public, preventive diplomacy would be successful. There is an accurate case of where this technique has been successful and one where it has failed. Statesmen can be driven to act, sometimes against their own judgement, when televised scenes of human outrage and tragedy shape public opinion. A classic example were the Kurds following the Gulf War when TV screens were consumed with terrible images of woment and children screaming for scraps of food and calling out for help that did not come. The Kurds are the largest minority in the Middle East and have been subjected to national oppression in countries where they reside. The Kurdish struggle for autonomy has been an explosive element of the national liberation struggle in the Middle East. The Kurds have been fighting for autonomy in their respective countries of Turkey, Iraq, and Iran sice the First World War. Although the Kurds do not have an independent nation of their own, they have always longed for one. They thought their chance to break from the tyranny of Saddam Hussein had come soon after the cease-fire with the U.S.-led coalition forces hwas declared and Iraq was torn by civil violence. Kurdish resistance fighters in northern Iraq, accompanied by Shi'ite Muslim rebels in southern Iraq, began waging open warfare against Iraq troops loyal to Saddam. Saddam ordered what was left of his military to stop the rebellions. During the Persian Gulf War, the media had continually released information that President Bush would wel
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Approximate Word count = 1150
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)
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