Military Officers Criticize Media Coverage Of Battlefront In Iraq

Team Infidel

Forum Spin Doctor
Inside The Navy
February 5, 2007
Pg. 5


SAN DIEGO -- Officers discussing the Iraq war last week criticized media coverage of the battlefront, arguing that the press has ignored some U.S. successes in the country.
The officers made the comments during a panel session here at the West 2007 naval conference.
Brig. Gen. Michael Callan, commander of Air Force special operations forces and director of operations for Air Force Special Operations Command, said he is concerned the media is too one-sided in Iraq coverage.
“As an American, I’m a little concerned . . . with regard to the media only telling one side of the story,” he said.
He noted that Iraq “is learning to stand” on its own, “and the media needs to tell that side of the story, and to date they really haven’t done a good job of it.”
Similar comments were made by Col. Michael Shupp, chief of staff of the Pentagon’s Joint Improvised Explosive Device Defeat Organization, who served as regimental commanding officer for the 1st Marine Division in Iraq from 2004 to 2005. Shupp said the media was ignoring the progress made by Iraqi security forces since the United States began training in the country. Also, Shupp said the press discounts accounts of bravery of the Iraqi troops, such as their willingness to assist Marines in the streets and to enter a dangerous building before Marines.
Cmdr. Steven Wisotzki, chief of staff for Naval Special Warfare Group One, said many stories do not appear in the press, such as the status of security in al Anbar province.
“Al Anbar is improving. You don’t see it much in the news, and I wish we could get the . . . effort energized to show the American public what is happening,” he said.
Wisotzki said some items that have not appeared in the press include special operations’ success in foreign internal defense. This effort spans the spectrum of tribal engagement and involves working closely with government leaders, he said. Efforts to secure Ramadi have not been widely reported, he added. Wisotzki said the security has improved considerably since the expulsion of al Qaeda from the city.
Retired Army Major Gen. David Grange, president of the McCormick Tribune Foundation, a charity that focuses on journalism, said producers decide which Iraq news stories run on television and are more eager to report stories that involve bloodshed.
“Quite often what’s put on television is made by producers,” he said. “Just like newspapers, some are biased one way or the other.”
Grange’s remarks prompted audience member Bob Timberg, editor-in-chief of the U.S. Naval Institute’s Proceedings magazine, to respond angrily that Grange was unfairly characterizing the media. The conference was cosponsored by the institute and the Armed Forces Communications and Electronics Association.
Timberg noted that many journalists had been killed in Iraq covering the war and that painting a media conspiracy was unreasonable.
“I frankly find it incredible that you would sit up there and speak to this audience and [say] this old saw about the producers,” he said.
Grange apologized to Timberg. However, Grange maintained his position that the media did not report some stories.
“I’ve . . . seen some stories not run because people just didn’t want that story on the air,” he said.
Despite these complaints, some officers said media coverage benefited operations.
Journalists embedded with his Marines during the battle of Fallujah did “good reporting,” Shupp said.
“I think part of it too was that the media know that if they didn’t stay by us, they would be the next one on the video,” he said, referring to gruesome insurgent videos of hostage slayings.
Shupp said while journalists embedded with the military provide good coverage, some news stories go through “editing chains” and are not produced.
He also suggested that the media should not just come and go to cover battles in Iraq but also report on successes that occur over the duration of activity in the country, he said. Additionally, Shupp said the military needs to do more to tell the media of its success.
Army Lt. Col. John Nagl, commanding officer of the 1st Battalion of the 34th Armor at Ft. Riley, KS, had good words to say about the press covering the battlefront.
“In my previous experience with some very, very brave journalists who really hung it out on the line, I have nothing but respect for these guys,” he said.
Wisotzki said the focus should not be so much on influencing U.S. media coverage but changing Arab media coverage because “the people we’re trying to influence are the people in the Arab world.” The United States should make a greater effort to work with Arab media outlets, including al Jazeera, he said.
-- Chris Johnson
 
Brigadier General Michael Callan should, in my opinion, turn his TV to FOX News if he wants a view more towards his liking on the Iraq Military Operation, or even better, he could perhaps win the War, and put that puppy to bed once and for all.
 
Brigadier General Michael Callan should, in my opinion, turn his TV to FOX News if he wants a view more towards his liking on the Iraq Military Operation, or even better, he could perhaps win the War, and put that puppy to bed once and for all.

Wow. What an ignorant comment. :???:
 
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