Two Types Of Journalism Dangers

Editor & Publisher is the leading industry chronicler of current news reportage. Its, and the major media’s, own reportage of itself, however, leaves questions about focus and completeness.

Sig Christenson, military affairs reporter for the San Antonio Express-News and co-founder of Military Reporters and Editors, is a decent man and brave reporter, who has returned to Iraq numerous times and not shied from danger. Christenson has strong critical views on the war, which others may disagree with but he’s earned the right to them.

E&P features Christenson’s criticism of reporting from the field in Iraq.

In Christenson’s piece, he notes the very few reporters in Iraq,

Petraeus’s aide Boylan said the Express-News, the Philadelphia Inquirer and the Atlanta Journal Constitution are the only regional papers that have consistently sent reporting teams to cover the war in Iraq.

Television is a waste. Production values have nosedived in network news’ entertainment era. Frankly, it’s hard to call a CNN story about fighting in Diyala province “news” when it uses background footage from another part of Iraq.

TV news crews typically have more money than newspapers but seem rudderless when it comes to ethically reporting a story. That’s the way it is in 2007.

Christenson notes that the military has been cooperative:

On the ground, reporters I know say their overall experiences with the troops have been good. Petraeus prides himself on providing media access to all levels of the military and he has made good on pledges to do so, at least in my case.

But, Christenson rues both that much “good news” isn’t being reported as well as “bad news.”

The biggest problem isn’t that reporters aren’t telling all those good stories that make you feel warm and happy about the war, but that the corps of journalists is too small. If there were more reporters in Iraq, you might well see more happy news amid the bombings, massacres and offensives. You also would see more misery – broken homes, refugees, widows, orphans, crime and poverty so crushing it takes your breath away. As it stands, reporting in Iraq is simply too dangerous and expensive for most news organizations….

Think of Iraq as Katrina squared and it makes sense for the media to launch a surge of its own, if only because our credibility is at stake. Let us have no one say of the media in this era, as Senator Hiram Johnson did in 1917, “The first casualty when war comes, is truth.”

Also, a casualty of war is when E&P cherry-picks what news of war is relevant.

For example, E&P’s search engine reveals no recent linkage to New York Times’ Baghdad bureau chief and war correspondent John Burns positive report on the “surge” and warning about consequences of premature withdrawal.

Neither does E&P’s search engine reveal recent linkage to the fables of Scott Beauchamp trumpeted and defended by The New Republic, even when virtually every part is disproven and Beauchamp himself is reported to have recanted.

Indeed, although the contretemps over the Beauchamp story garnered coverage in major newspapers, mostly repeating New Republic’s defense, a check of this morning’s (6:27AM, Pacific) News.Google shows none reporting his and New Republic’s discrediting.

Beauchamp RecantsThe Weekly Standard - 7 hours agoby Michael Goldfarb THE WEEKLY STANDARD has learned from a military source close to the investigation that Pvt. Scott Thomas Beauchamp--author of the ...The Beauchamp Affair Atlantic OnlineMilitary Atrocities Less Newsworthy Than Right-Wing Fantasies FAIRall 4 news articles »

Pvt. Beauchamp: Proud of Being Ashamed?Yahoo! News - 17 hours agoThis passage from Augustine came to mind as I read Pvt. Beauchamp's Baghdad Diarist in The New Republic (TNR), for Beauchamp, far from being "ashamed of ...Breaking: Beauchamp signs military statement recanting TNR pieces Hot AirTime To Show Foer The Door Town Hallall 4 news articles »

Scott Thomas Beauchamp Recanted His Stories To Military ...Reiten Television KXMB Bismarck, ND - 2 hours agoTHE WEEKLY STANDARD has learned from a military source close to the investigation that Pvt. Scott Thomas Beauchamp–author of the much-disputed “Shock ...
The Short Happy Life of Scott Beauchamp, Fabulist...Power Line, MN - 11 hours agoTHE WEEKLY STANDARD has learned from a military source close to the investigation that Pvt. Scott Thomas Beauchamp--author of the much-disputed "Shock ...New Republic Freelancer Recants Tales NewsBustersall 2 news articles »

Indeed, ““The first casualty when war comes, is truth.”

Especially when the major media choose sides.