Media often too chicken to embed
I’ve talked in the past about the lack of embeds in Iraq, and my belief that this dearth of embeds is preventing some of the “good news” about our efforts there to go unnoticed and unreported. As a former print photojournalist myself (ASU State Press, Phoenix New Times, Tribune Newspapers, and couple of small-town newspapers in Arizona), I take some interest in the interaction between the media and the military.
I was under the impression, as were others, that the fault for this lack of embeds falls primarily on the military and its failure to allow the numbers of embedded reporters we saw early in the war. According to Michael Fumento, writing for The American Spectator, often times it is the news agencies themselves that are finding reasons not to go. He responds to their angst about going to Iraq thus:
- Issue #1 - The flights costs too much. Fumento’s response is “You can fly commercial into Kuwait and hop a military flight for free. Or you can fly commercial into Amman and go military for free or commercial for a bloody fortune. United is offering roundtrip non-stop fares from Washington, D.C to Kuwait for $1,250 and to Amman, Jordan, for only $999.” Hmm doesn’t sound too bad for most media outlets.
- Issue #2 - Going in to Baghdad to get credentialed means risking your life on the ‘Highway of Death’ from the airport to the Green Zone — if you can catch that 20-minute ride from the airport into town. Fumento’s view on that issue is “…the armored Rhino van from the airport the International Zone, as it’s properly called, is always available and nobody aboard it has even been injured. And as I’ve noted elsewhere, the “Highway of Death” is essentially both a name and a myth perpetuated by reporters demonstrating faux bravado. Both the Washington Post and USA Today have detailed how tremendously safe it’s become since the bad old days, with the Post title speaking volumes: “Easy Sailing Along Once-Perilous Road To Baghdad Airport.”
- Issue #3 - You can’t eat at the KBR dining halls at the forward operating bases. According to Fumento (and I can personally vouch for this), the MNF-I issued press pass will allow you to eat in the same dining halls as the troops.
- Issue #4 - Embeds have to pay for their hotel rooms and hire local security. Not true, says Fumento, of embeds. The only journalists who have to do that are non-embeds. As an embed, you are embedded with the troops you are reporting on - they are your security. As far as living conditions, it will vary based on which FOB you are at, but it will approximate the conditions the troops are living in and it will be free to you.
Fumento’s final words to his fellow journalists are, “Being embedded in a combat zone — and if you’re not going to go outside the wire and risk your butt, why bother going — is easily the most exciting, rewarding job I’ve ever had. Dangerous and uncomfortable? Sure. But I think if more MSM reporters and freelancers realized how rewarding the risk is, we’d see those embed reporter statistics start climbing again. If you’re a journalist looking for the experience of a lifetime combined with a chance to serve the public, fill out the embed form, make your other preparations, and get on that plane and go. Or spend the rest of your days regretting that you didn’t.”
As a former journalist, I can only echo Fumento’s advice. There are times I wish I could go back to that line of work and illustrate to the world the great Americans who fight this country’s wars. Perhaps, when I retire from my current occupation…
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