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Missile Defense

Russian military leaders have expressed concern about US plans for a national missile defense system. Will defense technology be limited by possibilities for a strategic imbalance? Is this just SDI all over again?

almarst-2001 - 09:29pm Apr 15, 2001 EST (#2274 of 2276)

On a Media.

While http://www.nytimes.com/2001/04/15/opinion/15SUN1.html is by far more substantial then what (see him smiling) Mr. Friedman had to say, nevertheless it is very close to what I would call the Propaganda.

In my view, the difference between News, Oppinion and Propaganda is as follows:

The News honestly presents ALL THE KNOWN FACTS, while indicating the DEGREE of the SOURCE's CREDIBILITY and POTENTIAL CONFLICT OF INTERESTS

The Oppinion , while always SUBJECTIVE, nevertheless is BASED ON ALL THE KNOWN NEWS. The degree of credibility may not be present but a GOOD HONEST OPPINION should be expected to THREAD THE FACTS ACCORDING TO THEIR CREDIBILITY

The Propaganda is EVERYTHING ELSE

rshowalter - 09:52pm Apr 15, 2001 EST (#2275 of 2276)
Robert Showalter showalte@macc.wisc.edu

You'll have a helluva time finding "news" as you define it, in any country.

You'll NEVER find any country meeting your standard consistently - and I don't think it can be done, though it is a fine ideal.

An ideal that some, including most people at they NYT ... try to achieve.

Journalists give their opinions, and try to match the facts they understand, out of a sense of craftmanship and pride.

There are degrees of "propaganda" -- and in the world we live in, populated by beings (pardon the religious note, but it is Easter) "a little lower than the angels" a key issue is how are feedbacks and checking processes set up so that mistakes are corrected ?

Mistakes are inevitable, some "perfectly honest" some distorted in various ways, for reasons that may be "innocent" or less so.

The question, again and again is how do you check?

If Russia can do better than the US has done (and the NYT is far above the common standard of US journalism) you'll have served not only the interests of Russia, but the interests of the whole world.

With the new technical resources, I think Russia CAN do better, in important ways.

A free press, for all its faults, is something complex societies need. Even though, for all sorts of reasons, such a press will have plenty of "propaganda" as either you or I would define it.

rshowalter - 09:54pm Apr 15, 2001 EST (#2276 of 2276)
Robert Showalter showalte@macc.wisc.edu

I'm off for the night.

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