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Iraq
Papparazzi Unhappy That War is Not Being Orchrestrated For Them
2003-11-13
With casualties mounting in Iraq, jumpy U.S. soldiers are becoming more aggressive in their treatment of journalists covering the conflict. Media people have been detained, news equipment has been confiscated and some journalists have suffered verbal and physical abuse while trying to report on events.
Verbal abuse - by tired, edgy soldiers IN A WARZONE - that would be pretty unusual, huh....
Although the number of incidents involving soldiers and journalists is difficult to gauge, anecdotal evidence suggests it has risen sharply the past two months.
"We don't know, but we been told..."
The president of the Associated Press Managing Editors, an association of editors at AP’s more than 1,700 newspapers in the United States and Canada, sent a protest letter to the Pentagon on Wednesday urging officials to ``immediately take the steps to end such confrontations.’’
"Yeah. You guys knock it off, or we'll... ummm..."
``The effect has been to deprive the American public of crucial images from Iraq in newspapers, broadcast stations and online news operations,’’ wrote Stuart Wilk, managing editor of The Dallas Morning News.
Crucial? Crucial to what? Newspaper sales? TV Ad revenues? Oddsmakers in Dallas?
In October, the Belgium-based International Federation of Journalists, which includes unions representing 500,000 journalists in more than 100 countries, complained of increased harassment of reporters, including beatings of some, since the fall of Saddam Hussein’s regime. ``Guidance has been passed to units throughout the coalition explicitly stating that reporters are not to be interfered with or cameras and films seized,’’ said Maj. William Thurmond at the Coalition Press and Information Center. ``Does that take place all the time? No.’’ Thurmond said. ``We are aware that individual soldiers have not followed those instructions.’’
"But I diddunt interfere with him or take his camera and film, sir! I jus' punched him in the mouth!"
In Washington, representatives of 30 media organizations wrote to the Pentagon expressing their dismay about the harassment of journalists in Iraq. In a letter to Larry Di Rita, acting assistant secretary of defense, the Washington bureau chiefs pointed out that the Pentagon’s own guidance to troops says ``media products will not be confiscated or otherwise impounded.’’
"... unless the 'journalists' are actively aiding the Bad Guys. Then they're on their own."
The military command says it’s working to cut down on incidents by issuing credentials and badges to journalists. This system worked well with embedded reporters during the war, when confrontations were almost unheard of. But as coalition forces come under increasing pressure from guerrilla attacks - 37 American soldiers have died so far in November - signs of stress are evident. A number of journalists, particularly Iraqis and other Arabs working for foreign media organizations, say they are now routinely threatened at gunpoint if they try to film the aftermath of guerrilla attacks. Some have been arrested and held for short periods.
Hmmm... Could it have something to do with the fact that they have a family resemblance to the people who carried out the attacks?
Sami Awad, a Lebanese cameraman working as a freelancer for a German TV network, said that when his crew tried to check out a report Friday about hand grenades being thrown at a U.S. patrol in Baghdad, they encountered a roadblock at which soldiers told him to go ahead and film. But as the crew proceeded down the street, more soldiers appeared, threw them to the ground and pointed their weapons at their heads, Awad said. ``They checked our identity badges and then let us go, saying they thought we were with Al-Jazeera,’’ he said. ``Each group of soldiers acts on its own, and most of them are very scared and inexperienced.’’
Hey, reporters - when soldiers are at a Press Club, they’ll play by your club rules - when you and they are in a WAR, you better damn well play by their rules
Al-Jazeera, the Qatar-based television network, has repeatedly been accused by U.S. officials of biased reporting, charges the station denies. Two weeks ago, coalition troops detained two Al-Jazeera staffers covering an explosion at a police station in western Baghdad on allegations they had prior knowledge of the car bombing. Al-Jazeera dismissed the charges as ridiculous, and the men were later freed.
Not that they might have set up their cameras and started the "pre-game" show ahead of time ...... I can’t wait for the day that some Al Jazeera crew gets blown to shreds by a mine or IED, and some soldiers stand around filming the squirming misfits as their blood gurgles into some nearby sewer - and then sends the tapes to the news media
A TV news producer in Baghdad for a major U.S. television network said his crews had been threatened at least 10 times in recent weeks with confiscation of their equipment. He asked not to be quoted by name because of his company’s policy against giving interviews to other media.
Did that producer happen to itemize just what it was that his crews were doing when they were warned? All I can visualize is Somalia a few years back, with the SEALS swimming in, ’locked and loaded, and ready to unleash, and the INCREDIBLY MINDLESS reporters with floodlights tripping over one another, trying to get close-up photos - an absolute miracle of fire discipline by the SEALS...
Journalists have been shot at several times by U.S. troops, including an incident in August in which Reuters television cameraman Mazen Dana was killed while videotaping near a U.S.-run prison on the outskirts of Baghdad following a mortar attack. The military later said the troops had mistaken Dana’s camera for a rocket-propelled grenade launcher. An investigation concluded the soldiers ``acted within the rules of engagement,’’ although the U.S. Army has never publicly announced those rules, citing security reasons.
On the other hand, a really, really bright reporter might be able to figure out that a heavy vid camera with a long lens looks like a rocket launcher from a distance.
In September, U.S. soldiers shot up the car of an Associated Press photographer in Khaldiyah after an American convoy was hit with a roadside bomb. The photographer, Karim Kadim, and his Iraqi driver jumped from the car and ran for cover when they saw a tank aim at them. They were shot at with a machine gun as they ran and the car was badly damaged. Neither man was hurt. In the same incident, a U.S. tank’s .50-caliber machine gun fired at AP correspondent Tarek al-Issawi as he viewed the scene from a nearby rooftop. He also escaped injury.
You know, if you don’t want to get shot, don’t stand around an ambush looking like an ambusher
AP filed a protest and U.S. commanders promised to investigate, but no information on the results of the probe has been received. After a series of missile and rocket attacks in recent weeks on the so-called ``Green Zone’’ in central Baghdad that houses the U.S.-led occupation administration, security precautions there have been tightened to unprecedented levels.
Yeah, and here’s hoping that these "unprecedented levels" soon look like "the good old days"
As a result, journalists invited to cover news conferences at the press center are now required to arrive 90 minutes early to be frisked and have their equipment checked by sniffer dogs.
Somebody remembers what happened to Massoud...
But guards can announce without warning that the building is closed, blocking those still waiting in line outside from entering.
Maybe we should allow unknown, as-yet-unchecked yokels standing in line to decide when access to a sensitive building should be allowed?
``If you don’t like the way the military works, I can’t help you,’’ Capt. William Pickett sneered told a group of reporters left standing outside the gate after being invited to cover a briefing Monday with Australia’s defense minister, Robert Hill.
Posted by:Lone Ranger

#12  good posts guys.

Yank, valid point. I could only go off the vibes I got from the reporters I talked to in the past. I trust none of them usually (personal experience) & go off gut instinct. If I've been told to talk to them from my higher then I do without question - I'm just a little less cordial if I think there a 'buddy f*cker'.

LR - nice.

I'd like to start a video in the sunni triangle called "Infidels Gone Wild: When Pissed-Off Americans Attack". Coming from a JDAM near you.
Posted by: Jarhead   2003-11-13 11:41:58 PM  

#11  ..the problem is even the decent folk might have bottom feeding scum sucking editors that alter the story or put up misleading headlines. That makes it nearly impossible to tell decent from indecent.

Seems to me then it's up to the authors/reporters to challenge such practices, and those that have any professional integrity will.
Posted by: Bomb-a-rama   2003-11-13 9:03:14 PM  

#10  Well, I guess my approach to the problem would be a little contest: "Gather round troopies (and jarheads) - here's the rules - prize is one week's paid R&R in Bangkok - now here's your Reality TV challenge - top prize is awarded to the first fireteam that can successfully insert AN ENTIRE VIDEO CAMERA into a body orifice of a media cameraman in Iraq, such that no part of the camera is visible. No restrictions on method of insertion - anal, oral, inter-occular - hell, if you want to blow your own "custom entry point" into the bugger, that's your call. Contest entries must be accompanied by film (or at least snapshots) of the lucky media twat assisting you in your efforts...."
Posted by: Lone Ranger   2003-11-13 7:33:20 PM  

#9  Jarhead, the problem is even the decent folk might have bottom feeding scum sucking editors that alter the story or put up misleading headlines. That makes it nearly impossible to tell decent from indecent.
Posted by: Yank   2003-11-13 3:16:08 PM  

#8  a really, really bright reporter

Hey! I have a new oxymoron! Thanks Fred!
Posted by: CrazyFool   2003-11-13 12:44:19 PM  

#7  A lot of NBA fence sitters are flooding into Kobe's camp. They thinking it more and more likely he can beat this rap.
Posted by: Shipman   2003-11-13 12:29:47 PM  

#6  The "crucial" part is how to steer public opinion against the war and in particular the Bush Admin. Just heard ABC's radio news broadcast. Their lead was Koby Bryant. So that means no Americans were killed yesterday. BTW Kobe only had to visit the court for a short time. Peter Jennings may have more on that tonight. Make sure you tune in.
Posted by: Lucky   2003-11-13 12:11:29 PM  

#5  Well al-Jizz only copped to allowing their office to be used. I'm guessing they must be covering the planning of attacks on Americans for November sweeps...
Posted by: eLarson   2003-11-13 11:33:18 AM  

#4  I've dealt w/the media a few times. Some are decent folk and some are such bottom feeding scum suckers that I wouldn't piss in their ear if their brain was on fire.
Posted by: Jarhead   2003-11-13 11:05:15 AM  

#3  simple answer, force reporters to be embeds. That way they are known by local troops. And any funny business by people carrying press credentials can be dealt with by deplying them away from action.
Posted by: flash91   2003-11-13 10:54:32 AM  

#2  Given the increadable bias and outright lies in the media. And the fact that Al-Jazeera has been helping plan attacks I would say the military's response is increadably restrained.

Its time the media learned that This is not a T.V. show being staged for their benefit. This is a real war zone and, yes, people are being killed dead.
Posted by: CrazyFool   2003-11-13 9:10:13 AM  

#1  Al-Jazeera, the Qatar-based television network, has repeatedly been accused by U.S. officials of biased reporting, charges the station denies.

Wait. Didn't al'Jazeera admit just the other day to helping plan attacks on US troops? Haven't we found papers tying al'Jazeera staffers to Saddam's intelligence services AND al'Qaeda?

As for the rest of the press -- if the bastards stopped lying, maybe the soldiers would show them more respect.
Posted by: Robert Crawford   2003-11-13 8:52:44 AM  

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