As I sit down to write this blog shortly after Veteran’s Day, it saddens me to write about the recent events that took place at Fort Hood, an army base located outside of Killeen, Texas. On November 5th, a gunman opened fire in the Soldier Readiness Center of Fort Hood, killing thirteen people and wounding thirty others. Major Nidal Malik Hasan, an army psychiatrist accused in the Fort Hood shootings has been charged with 13 counts of premeditated murder in the military's legal system, making him eligible for the death penalty if convicted.
Since the shootings, there have been many reports on Maj. Hasan’s background, including that he was harassed by military officials for his Muslim faith, was scheduled to be deployed to Afghanistan and that he asked to be discharged from service. Other reports state that Army officials saw no warning signs from the man authorities say is responsible for the worst mass killings on a U.S. military base.
Recently in class we discussed the role of the media, and why it sometimes called our fourth branch of government. For the blog this week, I would like you to review several sources of coverage on the Ft. Hood shootings. My question to you this week is, “What bias do you see in the media sources that you accessed? Were you able to find two different sources that contradicted one another?” You must access at least two sources and name them in your post to get full credit. Answers are due no later than Thursday, November, 19th, 2009. To our veterans, I would like to say that I personally honor and thank you for your service to our country.
As I said before, I saw this first on CNN. Later I watched a bit on a local NBC news broadcast. The local news stations are not one I can focus on very long, as they always seem to be persuading me to stay here in Indiana. On the other hand, CNN does the same with America, but most people in America speak of their national pride in the same manner. I trust CNN more, as it does not push me one way or the next. This may be because I do not look at it the same way someone else does.
ReplyDeleteAnother altering path comes about with the pride of the armed forces. Whether obvious or not, the higher ranking officers are not going to ever admit to missing something like that. Actually, this is the way they have to stand. If our nation lost trust in our troops, we may never feel safe again. We know these people are taking care of these situations, so we can go about our days focusing on production. I am thankful for this, as every American not enlisted should be.
i saw it first online on the yahoo home page it was a very brief report and i found out more indepth what happened later that evening on channel 8 news. as far as the info i hear slightly differnt details from the different stations. i personally dont really trust the news too much since it seems to me you hear what the goverment wants you to hear so i try to avoid it as much when i see something like the ft. hood shootings i tend to reserch to try to get a full understanding of what happened without the bias of the different stations. i think that what happened is a tragic event but its saddens me that unless there is a tragic event most of the country dont seem to care whats going on as long as its not to us or on our soil.
ReplyDeleteAccording to ABC News there are certain proofs that the gunman is to believed to not only be sending money over to terroist groups, but had actually been found in mosques where an extremely radical Imam preached their spreading the continued message of "Death to the Infidel" is the main topic. According to the UK Telegraph, Major Nidal Malik Hasan, the gunman who killed 13 at America's Fort Hood military base, once gave a lecture to other doctors in which he said non-believers should be beheaded and have boiling oil poured down their throats." So pardon me for "jumping" to a conclusion here. And then finally we have our current House Judiciary Committee to thank for removing the so called Lone Wolf provision from the Patriot Act. Quite single handedly this lone wolf killed 13 people and injured 30 more. The fact is we knew he had terroist ties and ambitions or at least the hankering for some HATE CRIMES, not for being gay or lesbian, or for being an abortion rights advocate, or for being known Bible Thumper, but simply because those killed and injured were Americans. You know, the infidels they speak of and spread their insaitable lust for our demise. Then you have a quack like Janet Napolitano chief of Homeland Security assure the Arab Emirates that her agency is hard at work to prevent any anti-Muslim backlash in response to the Fort Hood rampage. Newsweek magazine runs this crazy thing about this could be the first of a whole bunch of crazy stuff because of our bad policies in Iraq and Afghanistan. You have TIME Magazine saying what a tragedy it is for Muslims to have to go over and help fellow Americans." And ultimately on the O'Reilly program we find Bernie Goldberg saying "it was conservative Americans like Rush Limbaugh that actually done it!" The gunman should not be the only one in jail when this is over, but a mulititude of inept people who knew his background and actions leading up to this act of terror, yes President Obama an act of terror against the soilders you are the Commader and Chief of. Whether he is muslim or not, I hope he rots in jail!!!!
ReplyDeleteI watched two interviews on TV with retired military people commenting about the Ft. Hood murders.
ReplyDeleteThe first interview was on 11/06/09 with Lt. Colonel Ralph Peters (now retired), an outspoken author and military analyst for Fox News:
"It was the act of an Islamist terrorist who gunned down 55 people because he believed he was doing the will of Allah in accordance with the Koran." Peters said "it's clear that the problem is Islam."
Reference: [ http://www.freedomslighthouse.com/2009/11/ralph-peters-reacts-to-obamas-ft-hood.html ]
The second interview was on 11/13/09 with Colonel Douglas Burpee, the highest ranking Muslim officer in the U.S. Marine Corps (now retired):
"He [Hasan] is a terrorist of the worst kind," Burpee replied, "but I don't like the idea of using the word 'Muslim' as part of that. It gives credibility to the whack jobs of the world who have twisted some ideological aspect and have created a whole new religion."
Reference: [ http://www.billoreilly.com/show;jsessionid=ECD1A4B2178E8A6F15C252C4DAEFA287?action=viewTVShow&showID=2471 ]
Both men had conflicting views about the murders at Ft. Hood. Burpee took the view of defending his religion by claiming that Muslim and Islam should not be connected with these murders. Peters blamed Islam as the cause. These two point of views seem to be quite common. There will always be people who are dedicated to their beliefs and will not denounce their religion. On the flip side, there will always be people who believe that the problems are caused by religious beliefs, values and teachings.
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Keith M.
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MSNBC reported that Hasan had a poor performance evaluation while he was at Walter Reed. Also, according to federal law enforcement Hasan has been looked into because of internet postings that discussed suicide bombings and other threats.
ReplyDeleteThe other source I used was www.npr.org. This website confirmed that Hasan was sent from Walter Reed to Fort Hood for a "fresh start".
I think that there were many red flags that were ignored or over-looked concerning Hasan's behavior in the months prior to his shooting rampage. From his background at Walter Reed, I think that sending him to Fort Hood was sorta like putting a band-aid on the chest of someone who needs open heart surgery. It seems that we wait until it is too late and then it's, woulda, coulda, shoulda.
Maybe we should demand more important issues from the media. I have been a long-time watcher of the Today show, and as I was watching one morning last week I realized that they only reporting on things that don't matter. I want to hear about things that are affecting my life.
First to state that I'm not a big media informational person, but a topic that caught my attention recently was the; "Youth Minister Arrested On Sex Charges." Honestly, it amazed me how low a person will go to get sexually pleasures, but this man provide it as a leader of a committee.
ReplyDeleteI first seen the media of this topic of a youth minister by the name of Byron Alston, on Fox59 News, who was arrested for; "Two women claim Alston tried to force them to have sex with him inside his office at the Save The Youth Center." In more details the media of Fox59 News explained; "According to court records, Alston in August and last June, grabbed women at the Save The Youth facility and asked them to have sex. In one instance, when the woman refused she claims Alston fondled himself in front of her."
Now, when also looking into more details from another media like Channel 6 News HD, showed some similarities as well as differences. "The woman alleged that Alston locked an office door made inappropriate sexual advances, inappropriately touching her and masturbating in front of her, during a job interview."
To me the details changes up, and that's the big issue of what's the truth to the story? Granted I don't agree with what has happen, and believe if he did proceed to those actions his arrest is granted. However, to see the story changes between just those two media sources make people wonder what really happen? So, that's my recent experience of my media access. ~Anesia~
There were details online regarding the Fort Hood killings that did not coincide with one another. According to The New York Times and Gaurdian.co.uk.com, 12 were killed and 31 wouded vs. 13 killed and 30 wounded. Also, it was mentioned that the killer was shot dead on the scene. On another site, it read that he survived being shot 4 times. I found it interesting that 2 other indiviuals were arrested in association with the murders. I did not find this information anywhere else.
ReplyDeleteDaylin McDaniel:
ReplyDeleteI didn't know anything about the shooting. I heard about it, but didn't know who, what, when, where or why. So, I looked at CNN and MSNBC for some insight and found 2 different opinions. CNN said Hasan was calm and religious, he was a psychiatrist for fellow soldiers and he wanted out of the service for a while. This makes the shooter sound like he 'snapped'. It almost gives excuses and justifies his behavior. On the other hand MSNBC talked about how there were signs Hasan had a mental problem. He had been discussing awful events of the war with the soldiers he counseled. Supposedly, causing him stress. The spin was more toward blame on those in charge that should have known he was a threat. The media overwhelmingly proved the point that the media is the fourth piece of government.
I don’t know if I can reply properly until I say this. This is my own personal feelings and I would hope no one wood hold it against me.
ReplyDeleteWhen I heard about the report, to begin with. I didn’t pay much attention to it. When it comes to war, I fall under the group that everyone hates I suppose, it doesn’t effect me. Don’t get me wrong, I feel bad for those who are were wounded and the family who has lost loved ones. I know I wound feel a lot more if I had a family member in that situation but… I hadn’t. I honestly don’t believe in taking others lives, no matter what. “Eye for an eye”, who gives anyone the right to kill another? No high power shinned a light down on one person and said: “You shall kill all who killed someone else.”
I can understand those who severed for their country though. They believe differently then me, so they can do things that I can’t even imagine or care to. It takes a lot of courage to put themselves on they line like that, in any situation, no matter the cause. For that, I respect them.
However, that is not the topic that we are blogging about. If it comes to biases of the media.
I first watched CBS; they seemed more to the point. However they did not go into many details on what happened. It may have been too early in the reporting though.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A8I8u5d3L_w
Secondly, I watched an ABC report… It all seemed dramatized, throwing around words like ‘Surprising twist’. I can understand that they tried to make the audience feel the sadness and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_qHGaJqV4mg
Sadly, I couldn’t focus, it is sad it happened. And the underline reasoning is messed up to. Killing other as instructed by a religion is hard for me to grasp. All of this report was very hard for me to have thoughts on.
I saw on yahoo and FOX news about the shootings, it was extreemly sad to listen to. I try not to watch or read the news because it is depressing. I also had a conversation with my aunt about the incedent, she watches the news advidly.
ReplyDeleteI had heard that he was Muslim but didn't really put it together with the shootings at first, then when reading the article on yahoo and talking with my aunt I thought about how terrorist acts have been performed before in our country with this religous group. But on FOX they discused the possibility that the man just snapped because he wanted to get out of serving and no one would listen to him.
I kinda wonder if maybe he did just snap but also if maybe he was worried going to his country of origin that someone would notice that he is Muslim and that would create more problems and not give him a chance at all.
-Naomi
I was flipping through some channels when I first heard about this incident on CNN news. They stated that Hasan is accused of opening fire on unarmed soilders and killing 13 people. I was questioning myself wondering why he did this.
ReplyDeleteWhen I turned to FOX 59 news, they stated that Hasan went crazy because he has been trying to tell them that he didn't want to be there anymore, but they just wouldn't listen. So now I'm kind of thinking to myself, maybe they should have listened to him and maybe then this wouldn't have occured.
But it is a sad situatiion and I think this is wrong what he did. I am just going to pray for those incident people and the families that lost there loved ones.
I was under the impression (from listening to the television news on the day of the incident) that this was the first and deadliest incident at that facility, until I just saw just a few minutes ago on the internet http://abcnews.go.com/WN/Politics/fort-hood-tragedy-largest-us-base/story?id=9009379 that Fort Hood tragedy is not the first for this largest U.S. Facility, and that Fort Hood has lost more troops in Iraq than any other military installation. Also, I commend Sgt. Munley (the female) that took Hasan down. Again, I was surprised when I searched the internet yesterday and saw that she appeared on the Oprah Winfrey show, along with another gentleman who assisted her in bringing down Hasan – I don’t recall hearing about that on the news. What happened in Fort Hood was really sad and will never be forgotten. Lee
ReplyDeleteAn article on MSNBC stated that Hasan had been brought to federal officials' attention because of internet postings with talk of suicide bombings and other threats. At Walter Reed, he received poor a performance evaluation and was very upset about his upcoming deployment to Iraq. I did not find any biased information on the site. There was a reference to his arabic name, here is the excerpt: {Noting the Arabic nature of the gunman’s name, the Council on American-Islamic Relations, a Washington interest group, condemned “this cowardly attack in the strongest terms possible and ask that the perpetrators be punished to the full extent of the law.”}
ReplyDeleteOn cnn.com/Campbell, an interview posted November 19th referenced Hasan's Islam extremist beliefs. I don't really know what to believe at this point. I think if someone is mentally ill, they are more likely to commit such offensive crimes. I don't how much his faith played a role in this particular situation. If he was in fact making posts which supported suicide bombings and the like, I would say it did play a role in this deadly tragedy. Someone should have gotten him out of that position before anything happened.
I did not know a whole lot about this shooting as I do not always have time to follow the news. I had heard about it, of course, but knew not many details. The first site I visited while researching this was an article from the Associated Press found on Yahoo. It told two different stories, one of a man drove to madness by constant harrassment, and one of a devout muslim extremist with possible terrorist ties. Then when I visited CNN.com and read this article: http://www.cnn.com/2009/OPINION/11/18/kenniff.forthood/index.html I saw both versions of the previous story but was happy to see the journalist giving his opinnion that the signs were there and perhaps we as a country are too politically correct and need to deal with these serious issues rather than avoid them out of fear of offending someone. I was happy to see this article because he pointed out a lot of flaws in our media and within our society as well.
ReplyDeleteI first saw this in the U.S. Today paper. It reported that Hasan had killed 13 people and injured others some in critical condition. Also it stated that a woman took Hasan down and he was also in critical condition. Its crazy that these people were killed before they even made it over seas to fight in the war. At cnn.com it said that Hasan is dead and that he killed 12 and injured 31. Maybe none of this would have happened if they were never deployed to iraq.
ReplyDeleteDuring the events of the Ft Hood incident when details first surfaced media outlets reported that that he was troubled and feared deployment, some also reported that he had Al Quada ties, and there were also reports this incident being unrelated to terrorism. There were also reports of him being killed and then later reports stated he was alive. Whatever the case, every media outlet has broadcast conflicting reports about Maj Nidal Malik Hasan. The two sources I decided to visit were CNN.com and FOX NEWS, each article dealing with the same topic of Maj Hasans slideshow and his views.
ReplyDeleteI must say after reading each article, neither really differs from the other and they're each pretty equally bias. There aren't many contradictions in the articles I've found, each pretty much describes Hasan as loner and one who had strong beliefs in his religion. He was also described as conflicted with the war, as well as fearful of deployment. Each article pretty much labeled him as troubled loner who served in the military, that endured harrassment since the events of 9/11. The only really contradictory statements and things I've seen were on the actual channels that mentioned multiple shooters and then reported one, in addition to saying he was dead and while one station reported otherwise. Here is a link to each article.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,572509,00.html
http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/11/11/texas.fort.hood.investigation/index.html#cnnSTCText
I went in the direction of looking at internet articles from The New York times and MSNBC to compare and contrast on how the media differed in their approach to reporting this sad news of the soldiers who were killed or hurt at Fort Hood. In the articles from MSNBC, they stayed very focus on who Nidal Hasan is. They gave a throurgh background of his history of his climb from the time he was in ROTC to when he became major in 2008. They were not negative on his behavior with how he interacted with patients and fellow workers. They talked about how Hasan had some "difficluties" that required counseling and extra supervision when he was an intern at Walter Reed but they didn't elaborate into what those difficulties were or if there was more to it. At the end of the article, they mentioned that Hasan was a lifelong Muslin and that he attended mosque regularly in his army uniform when he lived outside of Washington and made it a point for the readers to understand that he was born in Arlington, Va. MSNBC did not speak ill of Hasan and stated clear facts. I liked that they didn't put a negative spin on his religion and they made a point to interview people who know Hasan at different points in his life.
ReplyDeleteThe New York Times took a different approach in telling their readers the story of Nidal Hasan. The first paragraph was about what had happened at Fort Hood on November 5th, and the second paragraph went straight in to saying how Hasan belief that America's war in Iraq and Afghanistan were wars againsts all Muslims. The article went on to say what conditions the wounded soldiers and Hasan are in and who will be representing Hasan in court. Hasan's lawyer believes Hasan won't get a fair trial at Fort Hood. It went on to talk about the investigation and the circumstances in which Major Hasan was brought down by the Army's Civilian police.
Here are two articles done in different approaches. The first by MSNBC, was reported the day of the shootings and stated what had happened at Fort Hood and then tried to give an explanation of who Hasan is. The second article was a little harsh but stuck to following up on news of the investigation. Both articles did a good job and neither seemed to dwell too heavily on Hasan's "imbalance" or his religion . In watching television, I heard a lot of both of those in news reports(constantly). The investigation needs to take place and they need to have a clear understanding before making too many conclusions.
Anna Wilson
ReplyDeleteAccording to CNN, the man was a muslim and it was seen that he could be a terrorist in American's eyes, but yet never mentions that he was seen at any of these viewpoints. It also mainly mentions that he was not necessarily a terrorist, but just had issues in the head. Everyone trips out at some point in time at their life, it's how different people respond to their anger issues in life. His was definitely seen as wrong. According to MSNBC, it appears that the man was more upset that he was deployed than anything. It also seems that he was just upset at Americans period and all he was in this for was to get military benefits. I don't feel that he truly cared about our country and that he was in all of this for benefits. Both resources prove that he was an angry guy with several problems. I feel that he was not an accurate source for our country.
Elaine
ReplyDeleteThe most straight forward or unbiased article that I read was CNN. They didn't make him out to be a terrorist like many other articles even seemed to have in their title. CNN seemed to just state what they knew from direct sources without extra people throwing in their bias on what the crime could have been an act of. The others are seemed to hint more towards it being a terrorist attack. The Huffington Post absolutely made him seem like a terrrorist with the quotes they choose to use. Fox news took a poll on if it was a killing spree or terrorist attack. "Killing spree" lead, but no one seems to be really sure what his intent of shooting actually was.
Elaine
After researching several different sources, I’ve come to the conclusion that most the sources I investigated seemed more racist then anything. Just cause of the fact the suspect was of Palestinian descent, everyone was calling it a terrorist attack. Some even went as far as to say that it was “the worst terrorist attack since 9/11”. Even after the FBI as stated that “there isn’t enough evidence to confirm this as a terrorist attack”. The media is making it seem like the only reason why Hasan snap out was because he is Muslim, which isn’t right. If it was a white guy at the post office, he would just be considered a disgruntled employee, and not a terrorist. Maybe they are looking at him as a domestic terrorist.? It seems like in this day and age the media plays a very large role in how people think about other people, because if I didn’t know any better I would probably become racist against all Muslims. I guess it’s a good thing that I know better. He wanted to get out of the military for quite awhile and he definitely didn’t want to go over seas, and they were going to send him anyway. When you try to run someones life, sooner or later someone will rebel they always do. So when ever anyone flips out on the job will probably be considered a terrorist. Considering that most of the resources I look at was calling Hasan a terrorist, I only found one source that didn’t call him a terrorist and that was Chicago Tribune with a quote from the FBI. The sources if my researches are; Chicago Tribune, CNN.com, ABC, CNBC, and FOX.
ReplyDeleteWhen I first heard about this shooting incident honestly it was on Facebook. I seen a posting from one of my friends reaching out to the ones who were killed and their families, as well as, the shooter for help. I know I said it was from Facebook, but word of mouth is a element towards the media.
ReplyDeleteCome to find out later that day I spoke to one of my co-workers and she told me that the father of her children was on the base of the big shooting that happen. He was shaking up, but ok all that he told from information was that many troops were killed and the shooter was still alive.
Now researching on my own I found out from "msnbc news" saying; "Eleven of the victims died at the scene, military officials said. A 12th died later at a hospital, NBC station KCEN-TV of Waco reported." Everyone was shocked by the actions that took place, and the worse fact of not knowing the true reason why Hasan did the crime.
The media around the world will have the pieces to the puzzles, but the question is who's the first to put it all together first??? ~Anesia~