``In the past, the best coverage of such conflicts was done by independent reporters, most of them coming from the ranks of progressive writers and independent thinkers. The stories and images of the wars, coups and plights of the refugees were on the 'daily menu', served with the eggs and cereals to the citizenry of the culprit countries.
At one point, thanks to the independent reporters, the public in the West was becoming increasingly aware of conditions in the world.
Citizens of the Empire (North America and Europe) were given no place to escape the reality. Top writers and intellectuals were speaking on prime television and radio shows about the terror we were spreading around the world. Newspapers and magazines were regularly bombarding the public with anti-establishment reports. Students and citizens who felt great solidarity with the victims (that was before they became too busy with the Facebook, Twitters and other social media that pacified them and made them shout at the smart phones instead of trashing the city centers) were periodically marching, building the barricades and fighting security forces on the streets. Some, inspired by the reports they read and watched, were travelling abroad, not just to hit beaches but to see with their own eyes the living conditions of the victims...''
http://www.counterpunch.org/2012/03/16/the-death-of-investigative-journalism/
This news media condition is somewhat relieved by AJE, but even AJE is somewhat selective and getting more so since I started reading their columns and watching their programs a couple of years ago.
Meanwhile the above quoted piece from Andre Vltchek, mentioned Wilfred Burchett's coverage of Vietnam. So I looked up Wilfred Burchett and found an archive. Below is a quote from an early piece on Vietnam (1963)
http://www.marxists.org/archive/burchett/1963/the-furtive-war/ch01.htm
"A few days later another lot came and told us to move immediately. We explained we had paid to remain where we were. The commander said he knew nothing about that. There was a direct order from President Diem and we must start moving immediately. While we were still protesting, he ordered his troops to start demolishing our houses-and they did, even cutting down the fruit trees. Anyone who protested at this was grabbed and beaten up or tortured. One of my neighbors was given electric torture from an instrument with a handle. The faster they turned the handle, the more terrible were the screams. This was done in front of us all. Another old man who tried to intervene was beaten to death on the spot.
"It was late in the day by then and we said we would move, but only early next morning. The commander seemed relieved about that. But after dark, the whole village left for the forest. We had to abandon everything."
"Where are your men-folk?" I asked.
"They're in the forest, trying to avoid being rounded up by the Diem troops," she replied. "A meeting was held and it was decided to send us over here with the younger children, because if we were captured we would be shoved either into the army or into a concentration camp."
"You see how Diem manufactures 'Viet Cong'?" said the Governor, who was acting as my interpreter. [2] "What was a peaceful village a few days ago has now become a group of desperate people, pushed into resistance. That's the way it's developing everywhere over there."
-----
I found the above more than fascinating. Back in the same years, US news media were essentially embedded in Saigon. They attended military briefs and tended to follow news cycles and went to were the latest actions were and usually accompanied by ARVIN. The US military was very tight lipped about its own activities.
Anyone interested should look up Burchett's account. It's much better Neil Sheehan's A Bright Shining Lie. Burchett's work goes into greater detail, and begins about 1955. What makes it good is the current lens of seeing through Iraq and Afghanistan.
CG