The press, the internet and world events

The power of the internet for spreading false information is far greater than that of the press. Yet the latter has been very powerful. In Pulitzer: A Life, Denis Brian compares honest Pulitzer with dishonest Hearst. The latter spread all kinds of stories to promote a war with Spain over Cuba, and since their newspapers were in a circulation war, Pulitzer followed suit. Spain did everything it could to avoid a war, but war came, and the US was the aggressor. Pulitzer later regretted his lapse in honesty. One result of the war was Gitmo, and the Cubans have not forgotten. What Castro is up to at Gitmo is still not clear. For the first time, under the guidance of Raúl Castro, US and other foreign journalists were given a tour of the underground defenses just outside the fence.

Back to Pulitzer and Hearst. Pulitzer averted a crazy war between the US and the UK over a boundary dispute between Venezuela and British Guiana, a war which Teddy Roosevelt wanted. Again, the US would have been the aggressor. He and Pulitzer fought again when Pulitzer accused him of bribery in the building of the Panama Canal. Roosevelt sued him for libel and took the case all the way to the Supreme Court, but lost. Hearst, who had interests in Mexico, pushed the US to support the dictator Porfirio Díaz.

There should be a study of the US press and Latin America to show how our press has influenced policy there. Multiply that influence by x and you can see that the internet could do, for evil or for good.

Ronald Hilton - 1/21/02