Well, please understand that when someone says something that is different, or that goes against the flow, it makes news automatically. As a young reporter 30 years ago, I would have put that quote on its own too, for very simple reasons. It stands out.
The folks who write the news have, as individuals, no agenda versus the military or anyone else. In fact, the many journalists now with our soldiers on operations are, by and large, great supporters of them. Some have even been accused, by those opposed to military intervention, of jingoism. They just can't win.
I've been through this myself. When reporting on the courts, the defence layers accused me of being a tool of the Crown. The Crown Attorney bitched that I was a left-leaning bleeding heart liberal who wanted to see scumbags let off easy. When reporting labour, the unions accused me of being a tool of the management, and the owners bitched that I was a lefty union sympathizer. All I did was write down what people told me, and I tried to put it in an interesting and appealing format.
The media, as institutions, have a natural liberal tendency in democracies. After all, in right wing countries control of the media is endemic. But I have never, ever heard an editor, in all my decades of experience, tell a reporter to go out and "get" the military, the politician, the company owner etc. While it is true that one paper hates the Government of the day, and the other praises it, both will report a car crash, a fire or a soldier's death in almost the same way. That's not bias, it's just news.
Most media funerals are self catered. The reporters went to the family to find out how the family felt. The family had the opportunity to say whatever they wanted. This person obviously had a message he wanted to get out. I'm sure the reporters did not ask:" Please say something negative about your soldier." The message could just as easily have been a positive one.
When other family members of other soldiers have been widely quoted as praising their loved one's belief in what he or she was doing, we did not bitch at the reporters for being biased. Talking to the family of someone who has died tragically is a heart-wrenching experience, believe me. I've had to do it myself. Just because someone has said something that upsets us, we should not bitch at the reporters for doing what they are paid to do...reporting.
Most reporters in Canada are young people trying to do a good job. They don't have the benefit of 20 years experience in the police, fire department or the military. They are not trained and experienced lawyers or engineers or anything else. They ask questions, and they get answers. They of course sometimes get it wrong, but so do we.
Let's look where the information or the quote came from. And remember, the reporters will quote someone who rebuts this statement, just as readily. All it takes is someone with the knowledge, and the guts, to step up to the microphone and speak out.
