It's a No-Go on Joe

Much to the dismay of some surly commenters, I've been overtly sympathetic towards Joe before. Primarily, because I felt he was the innocent victim of a smear campaign propagated by Obama supporters for asking a valid question, which I considered a subversion of democracy. But for reasons beyond our comprehension, the plumber is reporting on the Israeli-Gaza conflict for PJTV.

I'm a fan of independent war correspondents (David Axe, Michael Totten, and Zoriah to name a few) and, as a Z-list blogger, I'm also a fan of average schmucks ranting and raving about their political views. But Joe talking about the media's purpose is classic conservative boneheadedness and proves that this whole stunt is as cornball as Screech making amateur porn. Vetvoice has what he said in this video:

You know, I liked back in World War I and World War II when you'd go to the theater and you'd see your troops on, you know, the screen and everyone would be real excited and happy for'em. Now everyone's got an opinion and wants to downer--and down soldiers. You know, American soldiers or Israeli soldiers. I think media should be abolished from, uh, you know, reporting. You know, war is hell.

First off, the modern anti-terror conflicts are nothing like WWI or WWII, which was a massive war between industrialized nations, and thinking like this shows a serious lack of understanding for the reality he is supposed to be covering. Second, the politically-toned coverage of Iraq and Afghanistan based on American politics, that Joe indirectly advocates, has made the media coverage so lousy. That's why Al-Jazeera English has some of the best credibility and American media can't get beyond looking like a 527 for whichever political party they're pulling for. Joe makes the error of saying that the media should be shilling for our government without thinking about how world opinion would view this significant lack of credibility. Turning moderates in troubled areas away from terrorism depends on our message being clear and truthful, and outright propaganda will be picked apart as bogus faster than Ashley Todd on Wonkette.

Hot Air and Jazz Shaw at PJs aren't impressed with all things Joe either, but I think Bill Roggio says it best:

Finally, Joe is advocating a 1940's media strategy for wars that are being fought in the 21st Century. We can't roll back the mass access to print, television, the Internet, cell phones, etc. and push the news on grainy films at the theater.

The real irony here is that PJTV, a 21st Century, Internet-based news organization is sending a reporter--who doesn't want reporters to report on war--to report on a war. And apparently Joe would love to return to the days when the news was influenced by the government and seen at the theater.