Collateral Murder

     On July 12, 2007, American helicopters were flying over a public square in Eastern Baghdad, Iraq. There was a group of around ten people walking together, two of which were Reuters news employees, Saeed Chmagh and Namir Noor-Eldeen. Eldeen came from a family of journalists and was known to be one of the best war photographers in Iraq.

                                                                             Video Footage

    As the helicopters flown by American soldiers arrived over the town square in Baghdad, there was a small group of civilian men walking. The American soldiers claimed they had spotted weapons and were targeting Saeed with their camera because he was thought to be carrying a weapon. Saeed clearly had something black strapped to his shoulder, which was not a weapon, but his camera used for photography. The American soldiers were requesting the okay to open fire on this group of men due to the suspicion of weapons being present.

    As the group of men was calmly walking with no commotion, the American troops in the helicopters opened fire on the men. An excessive amount of rounds were spent and all the men were down. American soldiers visualized one man crawling away, which was later known to be Saeed. Saeed was alive, and while attempting to escape, the American troops were visually searching for evidence of a weapon in an attempt to gain permission to fire again. As this was occurring, a van approached to pick up the dead bodies lying in the town square. While two men were loading Saeed and the deceased men into the van, again American soldiers asked for permission to fire. Permission was granted, and the van was under siege.

    Shortly following the events, other American soldiers arrived on the scene and were seen running over a body in the process. They found two wounded children who were inside the van and took them to get medical attention.

    The events of this day were publicized in a way where it appeared there was a battle and the men were insurgents. The official statement claimed they did not know how the men were killed. The event was devastating and video footage shows no viable threat or weapon possession of the Iraqui men. When the van arrived to collect the deceased, American soldiers said statements over the radio like, "Let me Engage," "Come on, let us shoot!," and "Well it's their fault for bringing their kids into a battle." American soldiers did not place value on civilian lives and simply wanted to kill them with no reason or potential threat. 

    These events are devastating and horrendous. The statements from the event were lies about the truth that occurred that day, and the truth would never have been uncovered without this leaked video coverage. George Orwell said, "Political language is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable, and to give the appearance of solidity to pure wind." Orwell shows how political and military leaders hide the cruelty of actions that take place. This event is far from respectable, it is disgustingly evil.

Cable News, The Internet... A New Era

    In the 1970s, newspapers reached an all-time high inevitably causing the first U.S. president to resign in a scandal. The investigations of President Nixon were conducted almost entirely by journalists. The extremity and instantaneousness of the news would soon dramatically change due to the new technology of cable news and the internet. 

The Cable News Network (CNN) made its debut in 1980 and was the first cable news network that provided a 24-hour broadcast of news. At first, CNN struggled for credibility because the American people had been reliant on newspapers and already established television news broadcasts. Soon, CNN drew major attention by broadcasting vivid coverage of the bombing in the First Gulf War. The Gulf War coverage caused wide attention from the public and helped to establish prominence for CNN.

In 1996, another prominent cable news network surfaced. Fox news was initiated as a political commentary channel. Fox needed to gain coverage across the country to reach viewers and increase its news prominence. The news network launched The O'Reilly Factor where Bill O'Reilly interviewed various figures on the show. O'Reilly was known to conduct confrontational and exciting interviews that increased viewers. 

CNN and Fox News became leaders in the cable-news industry. They both have varying styles and diverse political standpoints. Currently, CNN is known to be largely liberal, while Fox News supports more conservative views. Fox became known as more charming, dramatic, and nationalistic than other news outlets which may have led to an increase in viewers.

In recent years, developing social media networks like Twitter and Facebook have allowed people to connect in incredible new ways. Articles on these sites come from a wide range of locations and are spread around the sites. The new innovations have changed the culture of the newspaper industries, and have caused journalists to shift in the way they usually functioned.

Smear Campaign

     A smear campaign often referred to as "character assassination" is a deliberate effort to damage the reputation or credibility of an individual. Attacks may be verbal or non-verbal in the form of insults, rumors, campaign ads, cartoons, or tweets. Smear campaigns often target social groups, institutions, public figures, and political figures or candidates. 

Smear campaigns are used as a tactic to steer attention away from the topic at hand, and onto a person's personal traits or reputation. These tactics are associated with "Tabloid Journalism," presenting little well-researched news and instead, using eye-catching headlines with scandal sensationalism. Smear campaigns are also related to tactics such as propaganda, media bias, yellow journalism, and libel. These tactics can lead to widespread persecution, and rejection from professional, cultural, and social communities. Smear campaigns can lead to reputable damage that may last a lifetime.

Historians revealed the first case of smear campaigning by character assassination in the Roman empire. Historical Roman writing reveals that if a deceased ruler did not live up to the people's standards, they would model them as a bad ruler. Roman people used an emperor's sex life as a way to establish a bad reputation.

One of the first modern examples of a smear campaign is seen in Europe during the Protestant reformation. This event began the first wide-scale use of the printing press. Defamation attacks were made on the Pope by protestant reformers such as Martin Luther against the corruption of the Catholic Church. The protestant reformers used the new technology of the printing press to create pamphlets containing harsh words and images of the Pope with demonic faces. 

Smear campaigns are seen throughout U.S. history in various cases. In the 1804 election, Adams claimed Jefferson's election would result in the national promotion of prostitution, incest, and adultery, Rumors surfaced that if Jefferson was elected he would emancipate all of the slaves, and he was alleged to be living with one of his slaves and fathered children with her. Whether these rumors were factual or not, they played a significant role in the public opinion of Thomas Jefferson. Jefferson responded to the rumors in 1807 by saying, "Nothing can now be believed which is seen in a newspaper. Truth itself becomes suspicious by being put into that political vehicle." 

1800 Anti-Thomas Jefferson Negative TV Ad

Today we see similar tactics of smear campaigning by character assassination. President Barack Obama faced numerous false allegations that he was not an American citizen. A Trump campaign operative created a website designed to look like an official campaign page for Biden but filled it with GIFS and text mocking him. The fake site was visited more by viewers than the official page. Former President Donald Trump is claimed to have filed a lawsuit recently against Hillary Clinton and other officials for "smearing" his 2016 campaign.

Smear campaigns are used widely to destroy institutions and individuals' careers and success. Attackers make claims and statements to attack an opponent. The media then uses these ideas with shocking headlines to accelerate the situation and gain viewers. Public opinion is often swayed by the media's use of these false or nasty claims. 

William Lloyd Garrison

William Lloyd Garrison was a 19th-century reformer and abolitionist who founded the Liberator newspaper during the civil war era. Garrison was a Christian who pushed for moral reform and was known to be an anti-slavery activist. Throughout his career, Garrison went on to support emancipation, women's rights, and nonresistance to the biblical injunctions.

William Garrison was born in 1805 in Massachusetts to a devoted Baptist mother who raised him and his siblings in poverty. He grew up in an atmosphere of Christianity and the abolitionist movement which influenced his future endeavors. Garrison began working for various newspapers and journals including the National Philanthropist Newspaper and The Journal of the Times.

  

In 1831, Garrison founded The Liberator which became one of the most radical anti-slavery journals of the time. Almost four years after the creation of The Liberator, Garrison renounced church and state and embraced Christian perfectionism in his writing. During the Civil War, as the strides against slavery increased, his popularity decreased, which inevitably made his radicalism increase.

                                            

    

Garrison was recognized for his strong influence in anti-slavery efforts, support for emancipation, women's rights, and Christian views. In 1904, Russian author, Leo Tolstoy, published a biography of Garrison due to his inspiration from Garrison's focus on Christianity. Garrison is honored by a memorial statue in Boston, Massachusetts.