FOX NEWS & THE TROOPS. Jonah mentioned journalists endangering troops. I’ve been trying to find specifics. Maybe this is what he was referring to? From an April 1, 2003 A.P. story:
the Pentagon was investigating whether Fox News Channel reporter Geraldo Rivera endangered troops by revealing the plans of a military unit in Iraq in advance. Rivera denied reports that he had been expelled from the country….
Rivera, traveling with the 101st Airborne Division, revealed tactical information and at one point told about an attack two hours before it took place, according to sources at the U.S. Central Command who asked not to be identified.
Fox’s rivals, CNN and MSNBC, both reported yesterday that Rivera had been kicked out of the country.
At the time, Bryan Whitman the deputy assistant secretary of defense for media operations, talked about reporting in the fog of war http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/media/jan-june03/embeds_04-01.html
Well, one of the things that we’ve actually learned is that the media have the same problems that we do when dealing in information in the fog of war.
TERENCE SMITH: Getting it right.
BRYAN WHITMAN: And that the first reports quite frequently are not completely right and so we have to take those reports and those slivers of combat life that you’re seeing out there and the conflict and we have to be able to put them in context. I don’t think anyone professed from the beginning that embedded reporting should be the only way in which this conflict would be covered.
But I think that the embedding gives the American people a very important view
In both cases, the news organizations took our concerns very seriously. They understood and we appreciate their cooperation and their understanding in the matter. And I think they made the right decision in both these cases.
Or was he thinking of this case?
http://www.spacewar.com/2005/050323235826.n14ldgqa.html
LOS ANGELES (AFP) Mar 24, 2005
Five US special forces troops have sued the Associated Press claiming it endangered their lives by publishing photos of their unit allegedly abusing Iraqi prisoners, a lawyer told AFP Wednesday.
The five members of the Navy SEALs special forces unit and one of the men’s wives filed suit against the international wire service Monday in the California city of San Diego, the Navy SEALs’ lawyer James Huston said.The suit claims that AP “violated copyright and privacy laws and endangered their lives by publishing photos of them,” Huston told AFP….
The pictures, which were distributed on December 3 last year, appear to show SEALs sitting on handcuffed Iraqi prisoners, including one detainee who had a gun to his head….
Huston said that the pictures were downloaded despite the woman telling the wire service reporter that the SEALs could not be identified because “this would put their lives in danger.”
“Now their photos are on websites, their faces are on websites, they are on billboards in Cuba, they are everywhere and anyone can go and get them or their families in San Diego,” the lawyer told AFP.
http://www.mudvillegazette.com/archives/002445.html
The article says the wife of one of the SEAL’s
posted pics on her website and that the AP pulled them from there. Now I’m
not defending the AP, but pics posted on the web are not secure. Don’t
spouses know this?…Personally I think the AP is appalling and are just out to smear our military any chance they can get, but I’m not sure there’s a case here.
