EDITORIAL: Every soldier deserves our respect - A comment on the fading "newsworthiness" of soldiers

[Michael OLeary]

Shared in accordance with the "fair dealing" provisions, Section 29, of the Copyright Act - http://www.cb-cda.gc.ca/info/act-e.html#rid-33409

Toronto Sun

EDITORIAL: Every soldier deserves our respect
http://www.torontosun.com/Comment/Commentary/2006/07/25/1701080.html

Remember all the allegations that Prime Minister Stephen Harper was trying to downplay the deaths of our soldiers in Afghanistan by not allowing the media to photograph the return of their remains to Canada?

Harper eventually changed that policy, and the media were again allowed to photograph the coffins of our returning soldiers, as long as their families did not object.

Now let’s talk about what’s going to happen as there are more combat deaths in Afghanistan. Because in some ways, we in the media are about to be hoist with our own petard.

Inevitably, over time, the media are going to pay less attention to these deaths and not because of anything the prime minister did. That will happen simply as the deaths become, tragically, more frequent and thus no longer fit the primary definition of “news.” That is, that which is “new.”

You may have noticed it starting already with the two most recent deaths of Cpl. Francisco Gomez, 44, and Cpl. Jason Patrick Warren, 29. They died Saturday when their convoy was attacked by suicide bombers near Kandahar.

On Sunday, the Sun ran the story on Page 1, the Star on Page 13. Yesterday, the first chance the Globe and Post had to report on the story, the Globe ran it on Page 1, but “below the fold” near the bottom of the page, the Post on Page 4.

More to the point, no media gave these latest deaths the “wall to wall” coverage of earlier combat deaths of ours soldiers in Afghanistan, starting in 2002. Given that, here are the names of the 17 other soldiers who have died in our service in Afghanistan, in addition to Canadian diplomat Glyn Berry, who brings this roll call of honour to 20. So far.

Sgt. Marc Leger; Cpl. Ainsworth Dyer; Pte. Richard Green; Pte. Nathan Smith; Sgt. Robert Alan Short; Cpl. Robbie Christopher Beerenfenger; Cpl. Jamie Brendan Murphy; Pte. Braun Scott Woodfield; Cpl. Paul Davis; Master Cpl. Timothy Wilson; Pte. Robert Costall; Cpl. Matthew Dinning; Bombardier Myles Mansell; Lieut. William Turner; Cpl. Randy Payne; Capt. Nichola Goddard; Cpl. Anthony Joseph Boneca.

Let us remember them, as we will remember all those who come after them and all those who have gone before them.

It is the very least that we owe them all.

 

[Hockeycaper]

MOL,
I'm glad you started this thread. Because the same thoughts were going through my mind. Wondering if I was missing something about the latest deaths. I did see one interview on CTV ( I Believe) with The father of Cpl. Gomez but not much else. Not that I'm looking for sensationalized reporting and mis-quotes but I would like some back ground on the soldiers and maybe some info on the injured.Updates on their condition etc etc. Maybe that is too much to ask...

 

[Babbling Brooks]

The problem is that the public has a short attention span for anything outside their own area of expertise. 

We pay attention to casualties because we're interested, or involved in the CF.  But we're as guilty of ignoring slow-burning issues as anyone else if they fall in an area that doesn't touch us directly.  Are all of us up-to-date on the ongoing fallout from the Hepatitis scandal?  How about poverty and abuse on First Nations reserves?  Human trafficking?  War in the Congo?  Genocide in Darfur?  The pace of reconstruction in Indonesia after the tsunami, or in Louisiana after the hurricane?

Unless you're already embedded in a subject, it falls off the table pretty quickly.

That's not an excuse - we should honour the last soldier to fall as much as the first.  But it's something of an explanation.

 

[Michael Dorosh]

The problem is that the public has a short attention span for anything outside their own area of expertise. 

We pay attention to casualties because we're interested, or involved in the CF.  But we're as guilty of ignoring slow-burning issues as anyone else if they fall in an area that doesn't touch us directly.  Are all of us up-to-date on the ongoing fallout from the Hepatitis scandal?  How about poverty and abuse on First Nations reserves?  Human trafficking?  War in the Congo?  Genocide in Darfur?  The pace of reconstruction in Indonesia after the tsunami, or in Louisiana after the hurricane?

Unless you're already embedded in a subject, it falls off the table pretty quickly.

That's not an excuse - we should honour the last soldier to fall as much as the first.  But it's something of an explanation.

Well stated, and quite correct.

 

[big bad john]

The death of soldiers touches everyone 'directly'.  Soldiers guard our freedoms.  Soldiers enable us to go about our daily lives in peace and tranquility.  Soldiers stand watch ceaselessly over me and mine.  So if all we expect is a little respect when one of our brothers or sisters falls or falters in the line it is not too much to ask.

We have heard much too little about our brothers from Greenwood as well as our brothers who started their journey home today.  Please do not be hesitant to remind people gently of their sacrifice.  We owe it to their honour to share their memory.

 

[Michael Dorosh]

The death of soldiers touches everyone 'directly'.  Soldiers guard our freedoms.  Soldiers enable us to go about our daily lives in peace and tranquility. 

BBJ - that strikes me as "indirectly', not directly.

 

[dglad]

The problem is that the public has a short attention span for anything outside their own area of expertise. 

We pay attention to casualties because we're interested, or involved in the CF.  But we're as guilty of ignoring slow-burning issues as anyone else if they fall in an area that doesn't touch us directly.  Are all of us up-to-date on the ongoing fallout from the Hepatitis scandal?  How about poverty and abuse on First Nations reserves?  Human trafficking?  War in the Congo?  Genocide in Darfur?  The pace of reconstruction in Indonesia after the tsunami, or in Louisiana after the hurricane?

Unless you're already embedded in a subject, it falls off the table pretty quickly.

That's not an excuse - we should honour the last soldier to fall as much as the first.  But it's something of an explanation.

Also concur with this, and agree that you put this well.

It's a sad fact of human nature that our collective attention span has a limit, almost regardless of the subject matter.  I'd even go so far as to suggest that it has been decreasing through time, as information becomes more readily available and the signal/noise ratio decreases (an aside...it would be interesting to hear, from someone who may have studied the subject, if the "shelf-life" of news items actually has changed since, say, 1900, as more "efficient" means of communication were introduced e.g. from newspapers, to telegraph, to telephone, to radio, to news reels, to television, to computer networks)

It makes me think--not for the first time--that Don Henley may have (sadly) summed up the whole media-audience relationship in his song, "Dirty Laundry".

 

[Michael Dorosh]

Also concur with this, and agree that you put this well.

It's a sad fact of human nature that our collective attention span has a limit, almost regardless of the subject matter. 

Why is that "sad"? It's just the way it is.  If the newspaper reported on every miscarriage at the hospital, I'd stop reading the stories after a week or two. Variety is the spice of life and anything will get mundane - that's our nature. I consider it one of our strengths, frankly - the constant need for challenge, including the need to be challenged by our reading material. We don't consider these deaths any less tragic or important, but it's sort of an internal "okay, we get it, what else ya got to tell us" kind of a deal. Nothing sad or shameful. What is shameful is the press trying to work its way around these natural inclinations by indeed spicing the stories up with claims of "he wasn't prepared" or "he was poorly led" or whatever. They recognize these attributes in us too. The sad part is them trying to exploit them. We should not feel bad for the way we are.

 

[Babbling Brooks]

What is shameful is the press trying to work its way around these natural inclinations by indeed spicing the stories up with claims of "he wasn't prepared" or "he was poorly led" or whatever. They recognize these attributes in us too. The sad part is them trying to exploit them.

Hear, hear.

 

[hockeysgal]

Very well put  Babbling Brooks, it is very true that people who are not involved with the army or the mission in Afghanistan have very little reaction when it comes to the deaths of our brothers in arms.

The death of soldiers touches everyone 'directly'.  Soldiers guard our freedoms.  Soldiers enable us to go about our daily lives in peace and tranquility.  Soldiers stand watch ceaselessly over me and mine.  So if all we expect is a little respect when one of our brothers or sisters falls or falters in the line it is not too much to ask.

We have heard much too little about our brothers from Greenwood as well as our brothers who started their journey home today.  Please do not be hesitant to remind people gently of their sacrifice.  We owe it to their honour to share their memory.

Unfortunately most people(read civvies) do not realize what soldiers do for them, or that they actually work for them, indirectly of course.  I fear it would take another world war or something nearing that magnitude for the general population to realize that our job is to keep them free and safe. 

 

[Wootan 9]

Although the coverage of the latest casualties has been sparse, that does not necessarily mean that the Canadian public is losing interest.  Lebanon is front and centre and reporters are fighting for space to get anything else published.

Ever since the public outpouring of grief for the casualties of the Tarnak Farm fratricide, our dead and wounded comrades in arms have recieved a great deal of public honour and respect.  Of course it's never sufficient but before 2002 casualities were almost never covered in the media. Funerals tended to be private and ignored.  In some cases in the Balkans, certain politicians and senior civilians in NDHQ (aided and abetted by some senior officers) were intent on maintaining that low profile in the mistaken belief that public knowledge would erode support. In short, most Canadians just didn't know.  The bigger issue is that the general public has little knowledge of its armed forces and less contact, but even that is changing with the tremdous coverage from Kandahar.

Each of us has a role to play in improving the knowledge of our fellow citizens and in helping them understand the sacrifices that our troops make every day.

"Duty with Honour"