Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2008/07/28

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Subject: [Leica] covering the news....
From: chs2018 at med.cornell.edu (Chris Saganich)
Date: Mon Jul 28 08:21:33 2008
References: <20080727005707.424af917@desktop-philfo.here> <245380.90670.qm@web55915.mail.re3.yahoo.com> <20080727021933.1156fa8c@desktop-philfo.here>

Unfortunately I think the military is not a special case and that all 
mainstream journalism is conducted under analogous circumstances;  "if you 
embed with a corporation you must play by their rules," but they play in 
secret. The Bill of Rights is a great slab of parchment but we have given 
radio, TV, internet, and journalism over to private power without as much 
as a peep of protest.  These are all the tools necessary to protect the 
Bill of Rights!  This isn't an accident if you consider that the 20th 
century has given rise to three unique phenomenon; the rise of Democracy, 
the rise of corporate (or private) power, and the rise of public relations 
to protect private power from democracy.  It is well understood that if you 
control communication (advertising, media, etc.) you can pretty much 
control the population.  The main difference is that the military does not 
work in secrete like corporations, and they don't control the means of 
communication, the government doesn't that is to say.  Contrast this 
conflict with say the Regan era in Central America were there press 
embedded with US military then?  Or Camodia?  Well these wars were 
conducted in secret, secret meaning the general population is not supposed 
to be able to comment on it.  So, what is it about Iraq that we are not 
supposed to comment about?  Lets consider all the corporate dealings 
going-on, the Billions going from the tax base into private hands all at 
the expense of a poor nation and done in secret.  Lets start there because 
that is where it all starts anyway.

Happy Monday,
Chris, back from vacation

Phil - I thought your slide show and commentary at NYLUG meeting was 
moving.  Thanks for coming down.


At 02:19 AM 7/27/2008, you wrote:
>When a journalist embeds with the US military, they are subject,
>however loosely, to the chain of command for final release authority.
>They know this. Breach of this agreement is a breach of contract and
>that's that. Anyone who thinks that embedding with the military is a
>blank check is an idiot and irresponsible. I love freedom of speech and
>freedom of press. The problem with this is that in a combat zone there
>is no such thing. It's not the United States. Iraq is a sovereign
>nation and our Bill of Rights does not apply there. Sad, but also true.
>It's true outside of our borders in every place on earth actually,
>many Americans forget that. When I have been photographing in every
>other country except Iraq, I was extremely aware that I was subject to
>their laws and customs. As I was a military photojournalist in Iraq I
>DID have that blank check, but I also had to answer to my COC for
>publication. Not to worry because four years after I took the photos,
>the people are still dead, the horror has not changed and the impact is
>still there. No security risk now and I can publish whatever I like.
>Phil
>
>_______________________________________________
>Leica Users Group.
>See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information

Chris Saganich, M.S.
Senior Physicist, Office of Health Physics
Weill Medical College of Cornell University
New York Presbyterian Hospital
chs2018@med.cornell.edu
http://intranet.med.cornell.edu/research/health_phys/
Ph. 212.746.6964
Fax. 212.746.4800
Office A-0049








"I am the radiation"  

Replies: Reply from kididdoc at cox.net (Steve Barbour) ([Leica] covering the news....)
In reply to: Message from photo.forrest at earthlink.net (Philip Forrest) ([Leica] covering the news....)
Message from h_arche at yahoo.com (H. Ball Arche) ([Leica] covering the news....)
Message from photo.forrest at earthlink.net (Philip Forrest) ([Leica] covering the news....)