10.21.2008

Troops 4 McCain, Maybe?

I’d like to preface this opinion piece with two things:

1) In regard to Saddam, I am ecstatic that he is gone because I am more than aware of the horrible things that he did to his people, specifically the Kurds.

2) There is a distinct difference between a failure and an improvement, unfortunately, the only way to tell the difference is by waiting for the present and the future to become a part of history.

OKAY LET'S GET STARTED!!!

Corey posted an article that claimed that U.S. troops prefer McCain over Obama when it comes to handling the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. I read it and now I'm going to tell you why that article is flawed.

Read on…

I suppose I should also start this off with a foreword worth keeping in mind: The poll was not scientific by any means what-so-ever.

A.K.A. it was not a random sampling.

It neither had reliable standards, nor was it conducted in a professional manner, but rather, it was a poll that was only open to the 80,000 subscribers of The Military Times.

Of the subscribers of that particular magazine, those who participated did so voluntarily.

It is fair, I would argue, to assume that those who responded had a political motivation to do so: Being that it was a political poll requiring personal effort in order to reply.

I am curious as to what demographic subscribes to The Military Times. This would help us to put the poll into context. However, since we do not have readability accessible information as to what political demographics comprise The Military Times readership, one can only make assumptions.

Basically: this wasn’t a scientific poll. We would have to know what the political affiliation of those who took the unscientific poll was in order to even begin to evaluate this information appropriately.

A.K.A. this information is incoherent and unreliable.

--------------------
(DISCLAIMER: I no longer believe that ANY news organization reports without a bias. To hold such an opinion (I feel) would be incredibly naïve. This poll was reported on by FOXnews.com, which I believe to be right-leaning (McCain favoring). Interestingly, the vast majority of news sources in this country started out with clear biases, maybe we are just returning to our roots?)
-------------------

The Fox news organization did admit in the article that “The Military Times offered certain caveat for its poll, which was open only to its 80,000 subscribers.”

THINGS TO CONSIDER:
1- They made that statement at the very end of the piece.
2- How many people in the general public even know what the word “caveat” means?

(From Webster.com) CA-VE-AT: 1 a: a warning enjoining one from certain acts or practices b: an explanation to prevent misinterpretation c: a modifying or cautionary detail to be considered when evaluating, interpreting, or doing something 2: a legal warning to a judicial officer to suspend a proceeding until the opposition has a hearing

As a political scientist (degree already attained) and a journalist (I have written for 2 school papers which require journalistic ethics to be applied, my journalism degree will be attained in 7 months), ethics would require me to throw this poll aside, since it is not scientific and since it is unclear as to what the poll is actually telling us.

No comments: