ABSTRACT
The few reporters who sought out independent sources—Panamanian human rights monitors, hospital workers, ambulance drivers, and funeral home directors—challenged this number as representing only a fraction of the true death toll. Besides uncritically dispensing huge quantities of official news and views, the TV networks had another passion during the first days of the Panama invasion: polling their public. The few reporters who sought out independent sources—Panamanian human rights monitors, hospital workers, ambulance drivers, and funeral home directors—challenged this number as representing only a fraction of the true death toll. The “war on drugs” rationale for the invasion would have been shredded if media outlets had reported the backgrounds of the new Panamanian leaders installed by the US military. “If we just looked at television, the most violent thing American troops did in Panama was play rock music,” political media consultant Robert Squier told Newsday.
