Journalism in Iraq is Very, Very Dangerous
The Project for Excellence in Journalism has released the results of its survey of Western reporters working in Iraq, and — for those of us who have been there — its results are unsurprising. (Link contains PDF file.)
From a survey of 111 Western journalists who worked or are working in Iraq, almost two-thirds of the reporters said most or all of their street reporting was done by local citizens. Yet, 87 percent said it wasn’t safe for their local staffers to carry notebooks, cameras, IDs or anything else that identified them as journalists. And two-thirds said they worried that their reliance on local stringers would produce inaccurate reports. (The right-wing bloggers are going to have a field day with this one. Charges of hotel journalism will ring out again and accusations of working with al Qaeda will soon be heard.)
Some excepts from the executive summary:
Above all, the journalists — most of them veteran war correspondents — describe conditions in Iraq as the most perilous they have ever encountered, and this above everything else is influencing the reporting. A majority of journalists surveyed (57%) report that at least one of their Iraqi staff had been killed or kidnapped in the last year alone — and many more are continually threatened. “Seven staffers killed since 2003, including three last July,” one bureau chief wrote with chilling brevity. “At least three have been kidnapped. All were freed.” …I can attest to all these dangers. It was hell when I was there and the inability to tell the stories of Iraqis was one of the reasons I moved to Lebanon. (There’s less interest from editors back home in those stories anyway; 41 percent of respondents say editors have downplayed these kinds of stories.)“The dangers can’t be overstated,” one print journalist wrote. “It’s been an ambush — two staff killed, one wounded — various firefights, and our ‘home’ has been rocked and mortared (by accident, I’m pretty sure). It’s not fun; it’s not safe, but I go back because it needs to be told.”
Whatever the problems, a magazine reporter offered, “The press….have carried out the classic journalistic mission of bearing witness.”
“Welcome to the new world of journalism, boys and girls. This is where we lost our innocence. Security teams, body armor and armored cars will forever now be pushed in between journalism and stories,” one bureau chief declared.
What’s going to drive some war opponents into rage, however, is the generally positive views of embedding the respondents hold.
More than eight-in ten journalists (85%) surveyed have embedded with U.S. troops. And most of them see the program as the best available way to report on the actions, both large and small, of U.S. troops. It also is often the only safe way to gain access to Iraqi civilians in cities and towns beyond Baghdad.Again, that was my experience with embedding. I found it useful but I had to bear in mind it wasn’t the whole story. It was the story of the U.S. military doing whatever it was they were doing at that time. Sometimes it was useful, other times it sucked. Such is war.A majority of those surveyed (60%) tend to think embedding gives them access to places and people they could not otherwise reach. Only 5% say they see embedding as mostly helping the Pentagon control what is being reported. …
“There is no problem with embedded reporting, unless it is relied on as the primary source of info on Iraq,” wrote one bureau chief. “If used as it should be — to provide another layer of understanding of what’s going on there — it is a very useful tool. And we have to remember that not every embed will produce strong stories.”
(Full disclosure: I participated in this survey, but none of the quotes are I’ve seen in the survey are based on my responses. Nor do I know who the other people are, but I can guess.)
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About me
Hi there! Thanks for stopping in. I'm Christopher Allbritton, former AP and New York Daily News reporter. In 2002, I went stumbling around Iraqi Kurdistan, the northern part of Iraq outside Saddam's direct control, looking for stories. (Some might call it "looking for trouble.") In March 2003, I made it back in time for the war, becoming the Web's first fully reader-funded journalist-blogger. With the support of thousands of readers, we raised almost $15,000. You can read my dispatches here. It was one of the moments in journalism when everything worked. It was a grand -- and successful -- experiment in independent journalism. In 2004, I moved to Iraq, where I would spend the next two years. It was a raucous, scary and exciting place with a lot of news going on. But I've since moved on to Beirut and the wider region. I now report for a variety of outlets.
Again, that was my experience with embedding. I found it useful but I had to bear in mind it wasn’t the whole story. It was the story of the U.S. military doing whatever it was they were doing at that time. Sometimes it was useful, other times it sucked. Such is war.
Having embedded twice, I’ll slightly disagree with/add a wrinkle to this assessment: depending on what the unit you are with is doing, it can be an excellent way to get access to folks on the street and cover Iraqi stories. Civil affairs missions particularly will give you easy access to interpretors and average Iraqis, though the setting (with US troops all around) holds the potential (though not the inevitability) to skew things a bit.
But yeah, if you’re embedded with a unit with no contact, the possible coverage can be narrow.
: I don’t how you journalists do it. It really takes courage to do what you do and I admire that. Reading your blog got me thinking about this documentary I just saw, Sir! No Sir!. It’s about the G.I. Movement in Vietnam and how the soldiers made underground newspapers to get out the real news about the war. It reminded me of the soldiers in Iraq blogging about their experiences. The journalists and the soldiers are the peoples only way of knowing what’s going on over there, so thank you. If you want more info on the documentary, here’s their site, its pretty interesting. Here’s their site for more info
Journalism in Iraq is very, very dangerous. If you are a war veteran, then would it be possible to use or borrow or get a decomissioned mechanical ordnance disposal unit? Or if you have a friend in the USMC, give him a camera at base. Or could you use a UAV and camera linked to a scope on a Barrett M107?
-We are learning about blogs in our Information Technology class and are responding to your post as a class. Any response is appreciated.
More from our students:
I think what you do is very dangerous. It’s scary to think that you can’t walk out of your house without getting questioned (or shot). I’ll give you a lot of credit to just work out there.
A new discovery about freedom in Iraq
The Iraqi people are hungry for democratic freedom and willing to die for it. Many Americans however are voting for the opposite contrast of freedom called socialism this year. Annalists are already predicting a huge sweep of leftists coming into both the U.S. house and senate on the coat tails of the white house this fall. These leftists openly consider christian patriots the enemy of their state even above the terrorists. These people are itching to pass the fairness doctrine to put an end to conservative talk radio. They are already targeting hate legislation aimed directly against all American patriots. They plan a massive overhaul of the judicial system to impose legislation against 1st and 2nd amendment rights.
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Iraq is to be freed by a great eagle wings in the latter day prophecy! This is welcome news coming straight from the Bible just before the election. Most Americans still believe in Bible prophecy above political persuasions.
If the war in Iraq represents Gods will actually predicted in Bible prophecy, this may be our chance to unify christians and patriots before this critical election takes place. Obama claims to be a good christian. Could he now become exposed publically for apposing “the great eagle” freeing Iraq in Bible prophecy? A Salem christian group published an important press release concerning this true Biblical discovery! This stunning declaration comes from one of the most reputable christian publishers in America… www.eternaltruth.net
One critic asked the author how he could possibly announce a discovery about 9/11 and Iraq in Bible prophecy? “Aren’t you exploiting thousands of American deaths within this current war and 9/11 just to sell a book?”
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My first surprise while reading this book was to see this author approach things quite differently by laying a biblical foundation from Adam and Eve with the tree of life story, establishing common threads for his entire biblical claim. As the first chapters began to build solidly on biblical themes I quickly realized this particular author was either seriously attempting to link legitimate patterns of bible prophecy, or he was using an even more clever deception to mislead me. This author surprisingly understood the procedure to outline proper types and shadows and stay within one context while linking proper biblical themes. Since the author was not spinning I suspected that he would postpone taking of his liberties until he would be forced into a corner having to demonstrate 9 - 11 towers falling and eagle’s wings into modern Iraq.
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