Attitude towards Ukraine: Ignorance is Bliss? Or is It?

The storied CBS network has joined other media in declining in the quality of its news reporting. The great organization created by Edward R. Murrow is a sad shadow of what it once was. Murrow, Walter Cronkite, William Shirer, Eric Sevareid and the other greats of that network wouldn’t recognize the feel-good news broadcasts that are supposed to enlighten the interested viewer these days. News today is simply a profit center for the conglomerate owners of the networks. They may earn great profits but they fail in their mission of news reporting.

An example of CBS’ failure can be seen from its telecast of Saturday, April 16, 2022. The world news report spent more time on three feel-good segments which accounted for fifteen of the thirty minute (minus advertisements) broadcast. All of these segments were longer in duration than the top story of the day, namely Imperial Russia’s continuing criminal attacks on Ukraine. The “more important” segments discussed at length the 50th anniversary of the arrival of pandas (Ling Ling and Sing Sing) at the Washington Zoo and the vegetable cake made for the current pandas in residence to feast on. Equally important was the National Recording Industry’s submission of the song “Living La Vida Loca” by Ricky Martin to the audio archives of the Library of Congress. To top off the world news there was a segment about grandmothers playing basketball. The CBS news link can be found here.

It is generally understood that most Americans no longer read newspapers and obtain most of their news from television and social media on the internet. Is it any wonder that the American populace is so poorly informed today? The blame must be put on the news organizations and their failure to fulfill their putative mission.

The world today may be in one of its most dangerous periods since the Cuban Missile Crisis when Secretary of State Dean Rusk said that “we were eyeball to eyeball and the other guy blinked first”. War crimes can be seen daily on the television. Atrocities that are unimaginable to normal minds are perpetrated and there is a deafening silence. Who cares? Does anybody care? Do the news media really care? Where is NATO, the European Union, the United Nations? Where is Joe Biden? He doesn’t want to antagonize Putin, so Putin gets a free pass. Former Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart said many years ago, “I can’t define pornography but I know it when I see it”. What is happening daily in the “common European home” is pornographic. It is a disgrace, but life goes on. Everywhere except the killing fields of Ukraine. Which country is next on the imperial dictator's hit list? Will the world react too late?

In June 1967, at the height of the Six Day War in the Middle East, I overheard a Roman streetsweeper, proudly dressed in a blue uniform with gold SPQR embroidered on his breast pocket say “What do I give a damn that there’s a war going on, It’s sufficient that Rome (soccer club) wins on Sunday”. Blissfully ignorant. Was he right?

Garry S. Sklar

Las Vegas, NV

April 16, 2022