Control Room Response

The documentary we watched in class on Wednesday, “Control Room”, was an astonishing piece that really opened my eyes to how news is broadcasted portraying biases. In separate cultures, the same news is usually relayed observing a particular point of view, more times than none favoring personal culture. The documentary was a perfect example of this, displaying the differences in media communications between Al Jazeera and the US Central Command.

Concerning the war in Iraq, North American news coverage has always depicted American troops as the good guys, and the Iraqi armed forces as the enemies, and rightly so.  But as the film suggested, the news stations of Iraq, Like Al Jazeera, reveal their own biases, that American troop are wrong and their troops are doing what’s right. Al Jazeera also broadcasted gruesome pictures of dead American troops and aired videos of captured soldiers. They regarded zero censorship whereas those images would have never been shown on our TVs here. We all know of the horror stories of war, whether we have been personally affected or not by the violence, but showing the victims of fatal roadside bombings and attacks is wrong on Al Jazeera’s part. The courageous men and women who have died fighting for our country should not be the means of boosting their media outlets. I have always known that not everyone’s viewpoints and opinions are the same as and agree with one another, and it is those vast differences among countries that lead to wars, destruction and violence.

The film does an absolute job at bringing to light the idea of extreme biases with media and communications. The opposite cultures in which we live are bound to display opposing opinions and outlooks. Depending on which side of the news story you stand, the way you perceive and understand the information can alter your opinion and perspective on the matter.