In democratic countries, the overriding duty of the mass media is objectivity.
Objectivity consists of conveying the points of view of both sides of a conflict.
During the years of the Vietnam War, the mass media in the United States made the public aware of the stance of their government and of that of the enemy.
George Bayley, who is curious about such things, added up the time allotted to one side or the other on the television networks ABC, CBS, and NBC between 1965 and 1970: the point of view of the invading nation took up ninety per cent, while that of the nation invaded got three per cent.
Ninety seven to three.
For the invaded, the obligation to suffer through the war; for the invaders, the right to tell the story.
The news makes reality, not the other way around.
