News Coverage for First Battle of Deep Space Nine

[Dingo]

I was wondering what probably news coverage could be for the First Battle of Deep Space Nine during the Dominion War. I'm presuming that the convoys of Dominion ships coming through the wormhole would be newsworthy material in the Federation, especially following Cardassia's alliance with the Dominion in By Inferno's Light.

I'm presuming that the events of Call to Arms would be all over Federation news broadcasts, coming live from the station if at all possible.

 

[Tosk]

Yes. Definitely.

 

[JirinPanthosa]

Bet it was peppered with the phrase "My Dad".

 

[tharpdevenport]

"In our top story tonight: dozens and dozens of wings of fighters have engaged in fierce fighting with countless banks of phasers and follys of photon torpedoes but yet not a single flash of light and time travel has occured. And to date not a single ships on either side has encountered a freak anomally in space. Starfleet scientists are baffled. And now, to offset all the bad news about death and destruction in the war, are twenty seconds of tribbles."

 

[Timo]

Whatever the press response, it was probably well prepared. After all, the war started on Starfleet's own cue (the simultaneous mining shut of the wormhole and sending of fleets against Dominion shipyards), even if that cue in turn was scheduled by Romulan diplomacy.

The Dominion can't have been too unprepared propaganda-wise, either. With their expert infiltrators, they'd be in a good position to strike a blow in information warfare apace with the physical blow. But the war did not start in a way of their liking, so the propaganda may have been improvised, too.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[T'Girl]

Krauthammer: "The wormhole should have been mined shortly after the Dominion were first contacted."

OReilly: "Yeah, but that local Starfleet guy ... Sisko ... is a pinhead."
​

 

[Vanyel]

Fox News: Is 21st Century United States President Barack Obama at fault for the Dominion attack on Deep Space Nine? And did Hillary Clinton's deleted emails contain information about the attack, and orders for the 7th fleet to stand down?

 

[Maurice]

"...countless banks of phasers and follys of photon torpedoes..."

VOLLEYS of torpedoes do a lot of damage. FOLLYS of photon torpedoes are a foolish act.

 

[Timo]

In contrast, not putting counts in charge of banks might actually be a smart move, economics-wise.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[JirinPanthosa]

And CNN just comments on the things Donald Trump the 8th tweets about the war.

"Trump under fire today for comments he recently made about recent tension with the Klingon Empire. He tweeted yesterday that not only should Worf be banned from Starfleet, all Klingons living in the Federation should be sent on a ship back to Kronos. He then went on to say that Odo, the Changeling serving as a security officer aboard Deep Space Nine, should be executed as an enemy soldier. Even though these comments are clearly asinine, we're going to legitimize them by talking about them for ten hours while unpopular people complain about them, thereby phrasing the debate as an audacious display of balls versus whining."

 

[Marc Voorhees]

"In our top story tonight: dozens and dozens of wings of fighters have engaged in fierce fighting with countless banks of phasers and follys of photon torpedoes but yet not a single flash of light and time travel has occured. And to date not a single ships on either side has encountered a freak anomally in space. Starfleet scientists are baffled. And now, to offset all the bad news about death and destruction in the war, are twenty seconds of tribbles."

made me chortle quite loudly. No space anomalies at all!!

 

[arch101]

If you think the headlines were interesting, you should read the excellent series of books about the war that were written over the following years by prize-winning author and war correspondent Jake Sisko. His books really give you a "You-are-there" feel. If you're REALLY lucky, you can catch one of his lectures. He is widely considered the Gordon Prange or Stephen Ambrose of the 24th century and the preeminent historical expert on the war. He's one of the best-attended guest lecturers at Starfleet Academy and the Klingon War College.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

ISSUE NUMBER 47: Federation President Jaresh-Inyo. Is he a competent wartime president or a peacenik who's in over his head? MORTON!!!

"Well, John, I'm afraid that Grazerites just don't have the stomach for..."

WRONG!!!! He was elected by direct popular vote and has the full confidence of Starfleet Command and the entire Federation citizenry. NEXT ISSUE: Will the Ferengi Alliance and Klingon Empire contribute enough materiel and troops to the war effort? PAT BUCHANAN!!!!

"John, I'd have to say that the Ferengi will finance all the troop movements we need but the Klingons, while they are our best allies, will remain outside the conflict because..."

WRONG!!!! The Klingons would fight and die by our side because that is what honorable allies do. NEXT ISSUE: On a scale from 1 to 14, 14 being absolute metaphysical certitude and 1 being fairly likely, what is the probability that Starfleet will strike at the Jem'Hadar cloning facilities? ELEANOR CLIFT!!!

"Ah, 4?"

WRONG!!! The correct answer is 13.4. NEXT ISSUE: Cardassia's alliance with the Dominion. Is it a calculated strategic move on Gul Dukat's part or the last gasp of a desperate warlord? JACK GERMOND!!!!

"John, I really feel that Skrain Dukat is a master strategist who truly feels that his people will be better served by..."

WRONG!!!! Everyone knows that the Dominion will turn on Cardassia whenever it suits them but Dukat is so insane that he doesn't realize this. NEXT ISSUE!!!!

 

[JirinPanthosa]

I also imagine on CNN:

"As we are now almost two years until the next Federation election, candidates are criticizing the president's handling of the Changeling crisis on Earth. Candidates on the left are saying his weak leadership almost led to a military coup. Candidates on the right on the other hand, are saying that if he had handled the situation better there Admiral Lleyton wouldn't have needed to take matters into his own hands in the first place. The Betazoid candidate has come under fire for tweeting that she has sensed the Vulcan characters thoughts, and those are not the thoughts of a strong leader."

(Words scroll across the bottom of the screen: "15 million Cardassian refugees unable to find asylum, walled in by fences on Klingon planets attempting to reach Federation worlds.")

 

[Shaka Zulu]

This whole thread shows just how shitty current day North American news organizations are. I'm willing to bet they have better ones in the 24th century that took a lesson from the past and did not let conglomerates take over news and cheapen it to the level we have now, ever again.

 

[robau]

I dunno. Didn't that woman in Enterprise have an agenda? Media will always be vulnerable to corruption and bias.

 

[JirinPanthosa]

Bias, yes. Corruption, not necessarily in the utopian 24th century. We'd probably have news networks that focus more on ongoing humanitarian crises than candidates griping each other for an election over a year away. That focus on important events rather than just toting media personalities. But I would imagine the headlines would usually read pro-peace and anti-commerce. And every time a new planet joined the Federation they'd have nothing but positive coverage.

"Sigma Phi 6 joins the Federation officially today, proving once again that the powers of diplomacy always triumph and things work out the best when everybody works toward the common good. Here's a picture of some cute Sigmian kids playing!"