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OpEdNews Op Eds    H2'ed 12/9/15

If This is Not "Newsworthy, What Is?"

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Message Joseph Clifford


The 24-hour coverage of the terrible massacre in France only ended with the beginning of the nonstop coverage of the San Bernardino murders, and we will be inundated with nonstop coverage until the next headliner occurs. It is truly amazing what gets covered with round the clock intensity, and it is even more amazing what does not get coverage.

So you decide which of the two following stories should get intensive media coverage. On the one hand, use the current San Bernardino story, horrific as it is. On the other hand, imagine a "terrorist" attacks a hospital, kills doctors, nurses, and patients, and then runs outside. When survivors try to flee, the "terrorist" waits for them and kills those who trying to flee the disaster. For the sake of illustration, let's assume the number of dead and wounded in the hospital terrorist attack is double that of San Bernardino. Should one story get more coverage than the other? Should the hospital terrorist attacker be completely ignored by media, while the San Bernardino massacre gets nonstop coverage? Have you read or heard anything about the terrorist hospital attacker?? No! Why is that?

Could it be that the second story went uncovered because the "terrorist" was not an insane white person, or radicalized fundamentalist religious nut, but the US government? Yes folks, our government bombed a hospital. We bombed a Doctors Without Borders hospital in Kunduz Afghanistan. Let me repeat, the US government bombed a hospital staffed by volunteer doctors from around the world. Bombing a hospital is considered a despicable crime by all civilized nations and has therefore, been declared a "War Crime". Yet the US government bombed a hospital, and you barely heard about it, if at all. Where is the outrage and the nashing of teeth, and the grief for the innocent killed in that horrific act? Where are the tears for the two children who were burned alive in their hospital beds by the US bombing of that hospital? Where are the flower memorials for the dead doctors, nurses, and patients of the hospital bombing? Do you even know about this incident?

But wait there is more. At first the US denied its role, then changed its story four more times before the evidence of the dead bodies became impossible to ignore. Then the US claimed they simply made a "mistake," even though the hospital had given their exact coordinates to the US military on numerous occasions. When the bombing attack began, the hospital quickly called the US military to tell them they were bombing a hospital, but the bombing continued for an additional half hour. When survivors tried to run away, the US strafed the hospital grounds killing fleeing people. Why not round the clock coverage and wailing for the innocent dead by "news" commentators?

But wait there is even more. After getting caught by the overwhelming facts and evidence that surfaced, the US military decided to investigate itself. You read correctly, the US military decided they would investigate themselves in an attempt to get to the bottom of this and punish those guilty. They investigated, and to no ones surprise, no one has been jailed, brought to trial, or even charged. Imagine that, a despicable "war crime" was committed and no one was held accountable.

But wait there is even more. Many argued the US could not investigate themselves, as ridiculous as that sounds, and demanded an impartial investigation, but the US has done all it can to sabotage any outside nonpartisan investigation. Where are the "news" outlets on efforts of the US to stifle any investigation? Perhaps the "news" outlets should conduct their own investigation of the hospital bombing? Get it? Get the joke?

Some might argue this happens in war, and so let's not make a big deal of this. Those people would be correct. Things exactly like this do happen in war with little news coverage. This is not the first hospital bombed by the US. Among our bombed trophies is a "pediatric hospital"! Yup you read correctly, a pediatric hospital was bombed by the US government. You mean you never heard that on the "news"? Let me repeat, bombing hospitals is a "War Crime", and yet there was no coverage of that event either. What gives? Does media provide cover for atrocities committed by its own government? Or perhaps yet another "mistake" was made, and we really did not mean to bomb a children's hospital. Well how about the "maternity hospital" we bombed? Was that just another mistake by a "smart bomb"? Yup; you read correctly. We also bombed a "maternity" hospital. At the risk of redundancy let me repeat, bombing hospitals is a "War Crime", and yet there was not a peep from the 24-hour cable and news outlets. Heavens, could we be the victims of "filtered" news?

OK, some deniers might still argue we are just making mistakes, and in war such things happen. Well how about bombing a funeral procession killing all the participants? Yup; we did. Well how about bombing weddings? Yup at least 7 or 8 at last count. You mean you never heard about any of these things from our great "news" stations? If an individual went into a hospital and murdered doctors, nurses, children, and staff workers, we would all cry terrorism, but when such an act is committed by our own government you are not even allowed to hear about it. Isn't killing doctors, nurses, and children, in a hospital an act of very brutal "terrorism"? Isn't such an illegal and barbaric act worthy of "news" coverage. Thanks to Opednews.com you can read about such horrific things.

(Article changed on December 9, 2015 at 14:50)

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Joe Clifford lives in Rhode Island and has written a regular column for an online newspaper and has contributed many articles to various RI newspapers. His articles deal almost exclusively with American Foreign policy but ventures into other (more...)
 

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