PressEthic

Very cool handedly the press recounts the issues surrounding the debacle of Iran-Contra. The Miami Herald, in a July 29 article leading to this month's elections, stated

Ortega came to prominence in 1979 after playing a leading role in the Sandinista Front guerrilla movement that overthrew U.S.-backed dictator Anastasio Somoza Debayle. As Ortega led the country ever more leftward, the Reagan administration fueled a bloody civil war by backing the contra guerrillas. In 1990, under pressure on the battlefield and struggling under a crippled economy, Ortega called for - and lost - free elections.

Very factual, delivered straight. Daniel Ortega led a revolution against a U.S. backed dictator. Then, as he steered his government and Nicaragua away from U.S. policies, economic and otherwise, he was embroiled in a war against U.S. backed guerrilla fighters. The press covered it all. It was a different time, Communism was again a danger that could creep northward, spreading from Central America. That was the perception, media helped it become a reality.

The danger now surrounds issues of economy and immigration. The Washington Times editorialized that

Mr. Ortega will take Nicaragua out of CAFTA and into Mr. Chavez's Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas, and almost synonymous with this is a move to nationalize industry, much like Evo Morales did in Bolivia. Economic ripples from this move will be felt even outside of Nicaragua, mostly in the form of increased immigration to the United States.

Using a hotbutton issue like illegal immigration is sure to grab the attention of morning commuters clutching a coffee in one hand and holding the paper with the other.

International organizations such as the Carter Center and the democratization of the media through online forums making images and information widely available has changed the way reporting is done - to some extent - by traditional media. Transparancy is now guided by these pressures and it is more difficult to wage battles with bullets or propoganda that cannot be fleshed out by many eyes watching the same scene. Already there are calls for intervention into the Nicaraguan election to stop from such as the Organization for American States. However, some of the old stalwarts of print newspapers still march to drum beat that is called out from Capital Hill.