WP: Confidence In Military News Wanes

[DeepModem Mom]

Confidence In Military News Wanes
By Josh White
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, August 24, 2005; Page A04


The U.S. public's confidence that the military and the media keep them informed about national security issues has eroded significantly over the past six years, according to a new poll that shows 60 percent of Americans believe they do not get enough information about military matters to make educated decisions.

According to a McCormick Tribune Foundation/Gallup poll scheduled for release today, Americans are more interested in national security than they were in the past. But only 54 percent of Americans say they feel the military keeps them well informed, down from 77 percent in 1999 -- before the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Similarly, the public grew increasingly skeptical of the news media's efforts, with 61 percent of Americans saying that the media keep them well informed on military and national security issues, down from 79 percent in 1999. More than three-quarters of Americans also believe that the military occasionally provides false or inaccurate information to the media, according to the poll, which surveyed 1,016 adults during the first two weeks of June.

Media and military experts said the data are troubling at a time when Americans are becoming more savvy about the information they receive and are seeking their news from an increasing number of sources.

Retired Maj. Gen. David L. Grange, executive vice president of the McCormick Tribune Foundation, said he believes the round-the-clock news cycle and perceived biases within media organizations have hurt public confidence in their information....


http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/08/23/AR2005082301290.html

[Drum]

1. well, it's a little encouraging

to hear I'm not the only one...thanks for spotting and posting this!

[ourbluenation]

2. "public's confidence eroded significantly over past six years"

and this fascist regime has been at the helm for six years....hmmmmm? What a coinkeedink.

[Robeson]

5. Yeah, I thought the same thing....

...the previous administration, the people had confidence. The current one, they don't.....Hhmm.

[NYC]

3. Cause and effect.

"The mass media gets negative points from the people because they think that the big media is taking a position and shaping stories to fit their agenda," said Grange, who commanded the 1st Infantry Division. "The military gets negative points because they come across sometimes as being deceptive or using as an excuse."

People think so because that is what they are doing.

[wli]

4. Zero confidence in "military news." It's all propaganda period. n/t

[Supersedeas]

18. Uh-oh, let's get Karen Hughes to work on the Propoganda Machine

[ConcernedCanuk]

6. I dunno - I think ChinaDaily, Pravda, Debka 'n the like were doin fine . .

.
.
.

[Moderator]

7. kick n/t

[sabra]

8. Americans sometimes feel misled by military - poll

http://today.reuters.co.uk/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=worldNews&storyID=2005-08-24T040638Z_01_KNE414739_RTRUKOC_0_UK-ARMS-POLL.xml

Americans sometimes feel misled by military - poll

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Americans have become considerably less confident in the information they receive from the military, a sign the Iraq war has heightened public scepticism, the sponsors of a poll released on Wednesday said.

Seventy-seven percent of Americans polled believe the military occasionally misleads the media and 60 percent said they feel they have received too little information to make informed decisions about military matters, according to the McCormick Tribune Foundation/Gallup Poll.

"These results likely reflect Americans' dissatisfaction with the public debate about Iraq before the decision was made to go to war," said Mark Hallett, interim journalism program director, McCormick Tribune Foundation.

"Scepticism among the military, media and public should be expected," he said.

[daleo]

9. This is a gentle way of putting it.

This happened in Viet Nam too - five o'clock follies, light at the end of the tunnel, nobody believed the Pentagon anymore about anything.

[Melodybe]

11. It's not the military, it the president.

They are trying to make people feel unpatriotic.

It's an old trick, Americans are sick of that line.

Ha HA

[Anarcho-Socialist]

10. Hardly surpising

[Ready4Change]

12. Here it comes. Blame the Military.

The Administration send them off to do a job that shouldn't have been started in the first place. The military does a bang up job, (You may not like using the military, but at least ours knows how to attack a country.)

Then the military gets bogged down because, you guessed it, the Administration never planned what it wanted to do after taking Iraq.

Now this poll asks if we feel misled by the MILITARY!?! Great big WTF?

Maybe the military is misleading us. Maybe it isn't. Maybe some parts are and others aren't. You know what I am SURE of? The people who ordered the military into Iraq in the first place DEFINITELY MISLEAD BOTH US AND THE MILITARY.

Let's keep focused on the bastards who have made all this possible in the first place, please?

Thank you. End rant.

[Robeson]

13. I'm not a fan of how this nation pours every last available tax dime...

...into our overbloated military. But what do you expect from this executive branch? Everybody gets thrown in front of the train by them. But I'm not going to defend the military, because they're making so much money by sucking on the military industrial tit, that they'll sit there and be bitch-slapped by the administration, and not do a damn thing, as long as the money keeps rolling in.

[Ready4Change]

15. Beware the trap, though.

This poll, basically, asks "Do you hate the troops?" Rather than "Do you blame their leaders?" By attacking the military it deflects attention from the administration. It sets up a frame that says "Hippies VS Troops" rather than "Americans vs Neocons."

I don't think that's what YOU mean. But that is how this poll will be spun. Count on it.

[Robeson]

17. Oh, I know that. Its just another diversion and smoke screen....

...hence my "this administration will throw anybody in front of the train". I guess I've just been flabbergasted at how both intelligence agencies and the Pentagon have gone along and allowed this administration to do it. Some in some of those groups have spoken up, but not in mass. It really is reflective of just how powerful the people behind this administration are. But I'm straying off topic.

With respect to your specific point, you are correct.

[Ready4Change]

19. I share your concerns in those regards, as well.

There's a big difference between the conservative degree of coordination and the liberal side. Liberals keep taking solo actions, and are then pummeled from multiple directions simultaneously.

Further, since they have such a firm grip of the media, they often manage to frame any issue to their advantage, and to the liberals disadvantage.

[wli]

14. It's the neofascists' fault: to the Hague with them!!! n/t

[maddezmom]

16. It's not the military, it's the civilian leadership