Are we telling the right story?
An editorial in the Feb. 20 Air Force Times reflects on whether the press has given enough attention to the dead and wounded of Iraq, using as an example the news coverage given to ABC News anchor Bob Woodruff and cameraman Doug Vogt.
"Having a personal connection to someone injured or killed on the battlefield is a relatively rare experience for journalists," writes Pamela Hess, United Press International's Pentagon correspondent. "The war is comfortably distant--until a fellow journalist is affected."
Obviously servicemembers have a somewhat easier time relating--we sign up knowing death is a risk. When we read the names of fallen Airmen, Soldiers, Sailors or Marines, we think, "There but for the grace of God go I." When servicemembers in Iraq read and watched the brouhaha about an injured TV anchorman, many of them felt understandably upset.
"It's a bit stunning to us over here how absolutely dominant the story is on every network and front page," an officer stationed in Baqubah, Iraq, wrote. Hess subsequently cited his letter in her editorial.
"I mean, you'd think we lost the entire 1st Marine Division or something," the letter continues. "It's a bit frustrating to see something so dramatized that happens every day to some 20-year-old American--or worse, to 10 Iraqi soldiers or cops alongside us. Some of the stories don't even mention the Iraqi casualties in this attack, as if they're meaningless."
That's a pretty scathing condemnation of where the American news media is dropping the ball--but that's not my point. My point is that the military's news media--our Public Affairs offices--are complicit in the silence, even moreso with the Woodruff case in particular.
Air Force News ran three separate stories--not counting standalone photos--about the Air Force's role in Bob Woodruff's injury:
Network news team injured in Iraq
Air Force medics care for ABC correspondents
Air Force evacuates ABC News team to U.S.
In contrast, a story about two Airmen who were recently killed in Iraq garners one story, again not counting supporting photos:
Memorial services held for fallen Airmen
Our Public Affairs offices--at least the one in San Antonio--made what I believe is the wrong call. They jumped on the rest of the news media's bandwagon, saying, "Look at the wonderful things we're doing!" But when it came to the important stories--the stories of Tech. Sgt. Jason Norton and Staff Sgt. Brian McElroy--AFNEWS dropped the ball.
Hess wrote, "People are savagely wounded and killed. Troops in Iraq watching the coverage of Woodruff's wounding on satellite television and reading the news on the Internet are getting the impression that the press has only just discovered this fact."
From us, they're getting the impression that we are followers, rather than leaders and storytellers. They're getting the impression that we'd rather pass along stories that get instant attention and gratification rather than telling the stories of people who lived and died trying to make Iraq a better place. And That's a shame.
"Having a personal connection to someone injured or killed on the battlefield is a relatively rare experience for journalists," writes Pamela Hess, United Press International's Pentagon correspondent. "The war is comfortably distant--until a fellow journalist is affected."
Obviously servicemembers have a somewhat easier time relating--we sign up knowing death is a risk. When we read the names of fallen Airmen, Soldiers, Sailors or Marines, we think, "There but for the grace of God go I." When servicemembers in Iraq read and watched the brouhaha about an injured TV anchorman, many of them felt understandably upset.
"It's a bit stunning to us over here how absolutely dominant the story is on every network and front page," an officer stationed in Baqubah, Iraq, wrote. Hess subsequently cited his letter in her editorial.
"I mean, you'd think we lost the entire 1st Marine Division or something," the letter continues. "It's a bit frustrating to see something so dramatized that happens every day to some 20-year-old American--or worse, to 10 Iraqi soldiers or cops alongside us. Some of the stories don't even mention the Iraqi casualties in this attack, as if they're meaningless."
That's a pretty scathing condemnation of where the American news media is dropping the ball--but that's not my point. My point is that the military's news media--our Public Affairs offices--are complicit in the silence, even moreso with the Woodruff case in particular.
Air Force News ran three separate stories--not counting standalone photos--about the Air Force's role in Bob Woodruff's injury:
Network news team injured in Iraq
Air Force medics care for ABC correspondents
Air Force evacuates ABC News team to U.S.
In contrast, a story about two Airmen who were recently killed in Iraq garners one story, again not counting supporting photos:
Memorial services held for fallen Airmen
Our Public Affairs offices--at least the one in San Antonio--made what I believe is the wrong call. They jumped on the rest of the news media's bandwagon, saying, "Look at the wonderful things we're doing!" But when it came to the important stories--the stories of Tech. Sgt. Jason Norton and Staff Sgt. Brian McElroy--AFNEWS dropped the ball.
Hess wrote, "People are savagely wounded and killed. Troops in Iraq watching the coverage of Woodruff's wounding on satellite television and reading the news on the Internet are getting the impression that the press has only just discovered this fact."
From us, they're getting the impression that we are followers, rather than leaders and storytellers. They're getting the impression that we'd rather pass along stories that get instant attention and gratification rather than telling the stories of people who lived and died trying to make Iraq a better place. And That's a shame.