Team Infidel
Forum Spin Doctor
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/military/20061028-9999-1n28cnn.html
Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld is still weighing a request by three San Diego area congressmen that the military remove any CNN reporters embedded with American troops, a Pentagon spokesman said this week.
Reps. Brian Bilbray, R-Carlsbad, Darrell Issa, R-Vista, and Duncan Hunter, R-Alpine, made the request in an Oct. 20 letter to Rumsfeld after the cable network repeatedly aired a videotape showing snipers targeting U.S. troops in Iraq.
They said CNN's decision to show the video was unpatriotic and a “terrible mistake.”
Several media experts, however, said it provided a much-needed perspective into the reality of war. Jeffrey Dvorkin, executive director of the Committee of Concerned Journalists in Washington, D.C., last week called it “one of the better pieces of war reportage I've ever seen.”
Pentagon spokesman Todd Vician said late this week that Rumsfeld's office is preparing a response to the congressmen's request. He said he didn't know when it would be issued.
“This is essentially in the Department of Defense's court,” Hunter's spokesman Joe Kasper said.
In a radio interview this week, Rumsfeld said he had not seen the video, but voiced concern over attempts by terrorists to manipulate the U.S. media.
He noted, however, that Americans always “have the ability to turn the knob, turn the switch, change the channel, listen to different people, read different newspapers, support those things we want to support and oppose those things we want to oppose.”
CNN obtained the video through contacts with the Islamic Army of Iraq, a Sunni-led insurgent group known for carrying out suicide bombings and kidnappings.
The footage shows the war from a sniper's perspective. In one scene, an enemy shooter fires at an unidentified U.S. soldier standing in a Humvee. The screen goes black and then, moments later, the soldier is shown slumping in the vehicle.
The image is so murky that it's impossible to decipher who the soldier is or which branch of the armed forces the soldier is with.
A CNN producer said the network decided to air the video after lengthy and intense discussions over its news value.
Network spokeswoman Laurie Goldberg said viewer reaction to the footage was mixed. She declined yesterday to say more, explaining that she doesn't consider it “a story anymore.”
“I don't need to make this more than it is,” she said.
She said CNN has at least one correspondent currently embedded with troops in Iraq.
The Society of Professional Journalists, a journalism-advocacy group, urged the congressmen this week to withdraw their request to remove CNN from any embedded positions. The organization considers the possible move tantamount to censorship. “As Americans we should find any attempt by the government to control, punish or censor the news media offensive,” said Joel Campbell, an SPJ committee chairman.
Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld is still weighing a request by three San Diego area congressmen that the military remove any CNN reporters embedded with American troops, a Pentagon spokesman said this week.
Reps. Brian Bilbray, R-Carlsbad, Darrell Issa, R-Vista, and Duncan Hunter, R-Alpine, made the request in an Oct. 20 letter to Rumsfeld after the cable network repeatedly aired a videotape showing snipers targeting U.S. troops in Iraq.
They said CNN's decision to show the video was unpatriotic and a “terrible mistake.”
Several media experts, however, said it provided a much-needed perspective into the reality of war. Jeffrey Dvorkin, executive director of the Committee of Concerned Journalists in Washington, D.C., last week called it “one of the better pieces of war reportage I've ever seen.”
Pentagon spokesman Todd Vician said late this week that Rumsfeld's office is preparing a response to the congressmen's request. He said he didn't know when it would be issued.
“This is essentially in the Department of Defense's court,” Hunter's spokesman Joe Kasper said.
In a radio interview this week, Rumsfeld said he had not seen the video, but voiced concern over attempts by terrorists to manipulate the U.S. media.
He noted, however, that Americans always “have the ability to turn the knob, turn the switch, change the channel, listen to different people, read different newspapers, support those things we want to support and oppose those things we want to oppose.”
CNN obtained the video through contacts with the Islamic Army of Iraq, a Sunni-led insurgent group known for carrying out suicide bombings and kidnappings.
The footage shows the war from a sniper's perspective. In one scene, an enemy shooter fires at an unidentified U.S. soldier standing in a Humvee. The screen goes black and then, moments later, the soldier is shown slumping in the vehicle.
The image is so murky that it's impossible to decipher who the soldier is or which branch of the armed forces the soldier is with.
A CNN producer said the network decided to air the video after lengthy and intense discussions over its news value.
Network spokeswoman Laurie Goldberg said viewer reaction to the footage was mixed. She declined yesterday to say more, explaining that she doesn't consider it “a story anymore.”
“I don't need to make this more than it is,” she said.
She said CNN has at least one correspondent currently embedded with troops in Iraq.
The Society of Professional Journalists, a journalism-advocacy group, urged the congressmen this week to withdraw their request to remove CNN from any embedded positions. The organization considers the possible move tantamount to censorship. “As Americans we should find any attempt by the government to control, punish or censor the news media offensive,” said Joel Campbell, an SPJ committee chairman.