Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2004/02/24
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]At 08:10 PM 2/23/04 -0800, Ted Grant wrote: >These embedded people were only let in on the basis if they were good boys >and girls and didn't say anything that would make the military and certainly >not the government look bad!!! And certainly not cause any embarrassing >questions. Ted To be totally fair, the journalists in Viet-Nam routinely ignored military security: I remember one occasion on SIXTY MINUTES when Ed Bradley squatted in front of a map and pointed out the route the unit he was with would take for the next week. Talk about an invitation for ambushes. (And the unit in question took around 75 killed and wounded over that time, though I cannot say for CERTAIN that Bradley caused these losses -- but I damn well suspect that his gauche broadcast did so!) The idea of embedded journalists was to let the reporters KNOW the importance of keeping their reports to actions accomplished, for which there was no censorship, but also to convince them not to breach security which could cost soldiers' lives. If the journalists would understand the need for military security, then the military and the press could be more at ease with each other. And I say this both as a former US Army Information Officer and as a Recovering Journalist. Marc msmall@infionline.net FAX: +540/343-7315 Cha robh bąs fir gun ghrąs fir! - -- To unsubscribe, see http://mejac.palo-alto.ca.us/leica-users/unsub.html