OPINION

The Media Controls What America Sees

The opinions expressed by columnists are their own and do not necessarily represent the views of Townhall.com.

In the classic comedy, "My Big Fat Greek Wedding," the daughter Toula complains to her mother about her stubborn father being the "head of the house," Maria replied, "Let me tell you something, Toula. The man is the head, but the woman is the neck. And she can turn the head any way she wants."

Welcome to America, "We the People" are supposed to be informed and in control, but the media is the "neck," she can turn the focus of Americans to what it wants them to see and believe.

Ever since news programs were required to pay their own way, market share and advertisers who want to reach those viewers took control of what news gets into our homes on mainline media news shows. If it bleeds, it leads. The only requirement is that they have video footage. Whether it's domestic violence in your city or war carnage around the world, we see what gets the eyeballs of viewers to watch.

If the media can get that video from a citizen's smart phone or from a reporter on the front of breaking war, we are drawn to see what is "really" happening first hand. The media wants what sells.

So with violent Jihadist terrorists burning churches and killing Christians who refuse to convert to Islam in Syria, Iraq and Nigeria, why isn't the Western media sending images of that carnage into your home every night?

The first reason is understandable. Islamic Jihadists will not just kill Christians and moderate Muslims. They will kill any media they can get to that in any way tells a story they do not want told. Reporters and cameramen have been raped and killed. The media "neck" turns our attention to conflicts where the media can safely have access.

We are being fed 24-7 coverage of the conflict in Gaza, because they know that Israel targets its attacks on Jihadists and does everything possible to spare innocent civilians...AND the media covering that war.

The media needs carnage for their nightly news. Only Israel's commitment to spare as many citizens as possible and the joy Hamas has in showing the media any examples of where they fail gives them what they want.

But that does not explain why the media rails against the collateral damage and deaths attributed to Israel's "immoral war" against Gaza while failing to adequately cover the barrage of missile strikes by Hamas that started the war, the UN schools and Mosques that hide weapons and tunnels, and the actions by Hamas that have broken ceasefire after ceasefire.

The reported 1,400 deaths in Gaza are regrettable, but they are a direct result of the actions of the terrorist government that is responsible for their safety and their future. In addition, there is no attempt by the media to provide any perspective of the horrors of any war in the modern age.

When the Western allies carpet bombed Dresden, Germany in 1945, an estimated 25,000 civilians were killed. When America dropped two atomic bombs on Japan, within the first two-to-four months of the bombings, the acute effects killed 90,000–166,000 people in Hiroshima and 60,000–80,000 in Nagasaki. Roughly half of the deaths in each city occurred on the first day. With those numbers of innocents dying, was not America "immoral?" War is hell, now and then.

If our media is going to turn "the neck" of American citizens to cover the war in Gaza, at least they should do their job of providing balanced coverage. They should stop letting the Jihadists' strategy of using citizens as shields cause them to lose sight of who is primarily responsible for the carnage.

Never before has America been more in need of a responsible, fair media in understanding the numerous hot spots around the world. Demand that your media give you balanced coverage on Gaza and ask them to start covering the violent attacks on Christians throughout the Middle East and Africa.

Until they do, stay informed yourself. Start by listening to the first of three interviews of Nnamdi Kanu, the Director of Radio Biafra, on Townhall.com as he addresses: "Can a Free Biafra Stop the African Islamic Caliphate?"