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MSM's Reply (tongue in cheek)

Dear Mr. Shapiro:

Thank you for taking the time to share your thoughts concerning our reporting on the Israel-Hezbollah conflict and the broader issue of the war on terror. However, your comments and observations suggest that you posses an inherent lack of understanding, regarding the important role that mainstream journalism plays in the world. You see Mr. Shapiro, we mainstream journalists are an “enlightened” folk, who are well equipped to understand and report on the important events that impact “our” world, and therefore, are not in need of any advice from one outside of the fold, such as yourself. But since you took the time to write, we would like to take a moment to offer our feed back on a few of your comments, and in so doing, to provide you with just a glimpse into the world of enlightened journalism.

It is not just the lofty profession of mainstream journalism that requires a complete understanding of “moral relativism”. Such an understanding is also necessary for one to successfully negotiate life, itself. To that end, one must endeavor to learn how the decisions they make and actions they take, are perceived by those within their world around them, because after all, the world’s perceptions are directly related to one’s relative standing within that same world. Armed with an in-depth knowledge of the relationship between one’s decisions and actions and their corresponding impact on world perceptions, one can work to mold and shape the necessary decisions and actions required for manipulating world perceptions, so that ultimate control over one’s relative standing within the world, can be realized. Regarding our noble profession of mainstream journalism, the decisions we make and the actions we take in support of our coverage of world events, are molded and shaped with direct contingency upon ensuring that the end product of our reporting will convey the “right” message………that being a message that is consistent with our keen understanding of the “big picture” and one that will continue the advancement of what we view to be the global “greater good”.

So we agree on the need for “moral relativism” to facilitate the practice of sound mainstream journalism. But depending on the specifics of a given issue, it does not necessarily follow that the implementation of “morally relative journalism” require the prerequisite that “both sides of the story” be told. The interweaving of imbedded and related issues within and around the larger issue of a particular newsworthy event, are often very difficult to flesh-out and identify, even for us seasoned mainstream journalists. In order to present “both sides of the story”, our coverage must be carefully crafted to prevent the inadvertent compromise of the ultimate message we are trying to convey. Our ability to achieve this delicate balance depends heavily on whether or not we can successfully sort-out the complexities of these imbedded and related issues. Ultimately, our coverage of news stories must be tailored in what ever fashion that is necessary, to preserve the advancement of our view of the global “greater good”, even if covering “both sides of the story” becomes a casualt in the process.

Yes, the profession of mainstream journalism has certainly evolved over the years, becoming increasingly more difficult in practical application, given the complexity of the inherent issues, discussed above. As such is the case, there are some on the fringes of our noble profession that have chosen to participate in the more secondary alternative markets of journalistic practice. These are the underground, backroom-blogging, cable, radio, Internet, sidestream journalists, that base their coverage of news stories solely on providing objective and factual information, in pursuit of reporting only what is true………….well………...how difficult can THAT really be? No matter how complex our mainstream journalism work becomes, we maintain perseverance in our struggle to juggle all of the difficult and interconnecting issues, as required to produce our news stories, never losing site of our aforementioned primary goal, all the while keeping track of our every jot, tittle and video of record, so we don’t get all caught-up and twisted in our own skivvies. These alternative sidestream journalists can rest all of their efforts on a solid foundation of truth, which requires absolutely no work on their part to uphold, because everybody knows, the truth needs no help from any man, to stand on its own.

Sorry about my closing rant. I hope our discussion has left you with a better understanding of who we might be, depending on circumstances.


Relatively yours,

Mainstream media