Navy Yard Shooting & Syria Media Coverage Problematic

joining me today is Dennis Campbell he's editor in chief UK progressive magazine he also hosts worldview with Dennis Campbell on YouTube at YouTube dot com slash world you show Dennis we've had of course on Monday the Navy Yard shooting 34-year-old Aaron Alexis to identified as the shooter and there has been a wide range of media coverage surrounding this in in the US and I'm curious starting first with the Navy Yard shooting and then we can move on and discuss kind of coverage if Syria and military action how has the millet how how does the media coverage in the UK deferred or maybe been similar to the coverage that the incident got here in the US well as it was occurring in there was quite a bit of confusion um I do a lot of work with the BBC for example armed and they literally called me and put me on air on my cell phone talking about the area having spent 45 years in washington DC with there was more um I would say restraints there from the BBC there they're trying to understand you know what is the situation where is it located how many people were there what are the impacts and affects going to be around the city and you know they expect me obviously to say look it's too early to speculate %uh you know as to who how many what motives it's it's a changing situations but you know they tend to be a little bit more reserved there was a little bit more coverage later in the evening and some in the morning programs but that it pretty much disappeared it didn't have the wall to wall 24/7 feel up cable news in the US news here is still pretty much all appointment telly except for gray the BBC News Journal and evened they tend to repeat stories two or three times now are right and then that kindness kinda gets into the discussion love when you decide when the 24-hour breaking news cycle kind of starts you've opened the door that is then very hard to close or more more like it's very hard to get the toothpaste back it back in the container so to speak back in the tube because you've created the needed to keep generating news about the the the topic and then it ends up with one of two things that the regurgitation have the exact same few facts for hours and hours or you open up the door to poor coverage and that seems to be something that is is now almost expected in american media oh absolutely and in it was actually stunning there was a piece some on The Daily Show last night that was talking about so the coverage if CNN in particular because if you remember all the way back to the Boston bombing you know they had people jumping up and down in front of cameras trying to get attention for absolutely nothing but pure speculation and a Jon Stewart last night showed 8 clip of Jeff sucker the head of CNN talking about you know how and why they do what they do and they said you know we got it wrong we apologize but our audience ratings were up to a high not seen in 10 years and I'm convinced that at some level it's this pursuit ratings to get you know we've talked about this before privately David the rabbit left in the rabbit right together in each other's face making a lot of noise thats all that seems to matter and somebody actually said at one point it might have been you when we were chatting that you know if they are up surfing with their remote control that the news networks want to see people in somebody's face they want to see somebody excited they wanna see something going on that's dramatically gets the viewer to stop now I've got a problem with that from a news perspective because you obviously creating news your obvious the fueling rampant speculation you're not helping the situation one bit and when you talk about syria the drumbeat towards war well as you've got rapid left in rabbit right going at each other tooth and nail your always going to be in a situation where the only solution is the ball ball ball ball ball let's explore that one because the navy yard a is shooting did make international news but it really was kinda a domestic thing so I think syria gets to a different type of conversation which is once the discussions start about military action here in the US there was this up kind of like a march towards a climax so to speak and the climax was expected by many to be some kind of military action and there's this kinda interim period after the initial nonstop coverage if Syria starts but before there's really any decision about what will happen in Syria where it's not clear what is the coverage is the coverage kind of like a we're still expecting military action is in it and it almost starts to continue the the drive towards the military action not in the sense that media coverage will really cause military action but once you start going down that path you have to continue covering it and it's very hard to on a certain day say okay all the buildup around Syria its kind of stopped and we're gonna back off and we'll just let you know what happens the it will how do you how do you make the transition here in the US it's very tough I don't know if that same thing is happening in news reports in the UK not at all as a matter fact you know what are the stunning things about that whole Syrian debate me was when the the house of parliament at that astonishing debate that went on for about six to seven hours about whether or not the UK should become involved in and it was really riveting television because there wasn't a single talking head other than the Member of Parliament who was standing there making the case you know either for or against and most of them were coming up against were very logical well-thought-out reasons what I see happening all a median the USA is that there's still the remnants of the NEA columns the John McCain's and Lindsey Graham's that wat war at all costs in you know want to paint President Obama into corners week and on the other side you've got people that are are saying well because he's taking to rhyme and deliberating and eventually came up with the decision that ended up with the US not going to war and %uh bombing anyone probably for the first time it was really astonishing to solve watch the way in which the media express their disappointment in the fall I'll anger at President Obama calling him a designer or calling them you know mean someone incapable of taking a decision and indeed his entire second term as governor because at this that's exactly what you know it I'm reminded love after the wiki leaks the Chelsea Manning Julian Assange's Wikileaks came out there was this video that I always refer to what I think about these things have wolf blitzer gonna call going on CNN and he's visibly angry not the incredible crimes that were revealed by those leaks provided the WikiLeaks by Chelsea Manning but by the fact that the leaks were leaked in other words a journalist someone who presumably makes a job out if investigating asking questions that people may not want to answer angry not that we found stuff out but angry that some stuff was leaked it was completely upside down for me and it it's been the same thing with syria it's been that way with the Sun has been that way with anything that goes out amid you all about the pentagon papers in 1974 which I remember when I was I was in high school but I'm and you know you look at things and and and you look at the way in which the the media bills the case against the individual who is supposedly presumed innocent until found guilty in a court of law but in these cases the rush to judgment has been severe and the rush by the even the US government to try and capture these guys are shut them up has been severe and indeed I think when you look at the the vast vast amount of knowledge we've got root from the leaks Edward snowden as to the legs and depths of spying around the world its even damage diplomatic relationships with Brazil with the Brazilian President canceling a state visit and it is a member countries around the world that very upset and their even now trying to set up their own internet to get away from the potential spying Ryan and naturally after the next break we'll be talking about how some Brazilian hackers thinking that nasa not the NSA was the problematic organization hack nasa but that kind of another story altogether look we've been taking a with Dennis Campbell he is editor in chief UK progressive magazine you to dot com slash world view show check it out and then it will talk you next week thank you looking forward to it