British Royal Marine KIA saving reporter

[GO_AV8_DevilDog]

Ok, when it comes to the embedded reporter debate it's always the same song and dance.

Oh but the american people have a RIGHT to know what's really going on man.

Sure, yes you do. Join the military and find out.

I can imagine going to war with a reporter is like taking a girlfriend hunting. Sometimes you have a good one who knows when to shut up and just deal with the doe piss smell... but more often then not she's scaring away the deer and making your life miserable.

 

[Flash]

WHO GIVES A FLYING FUCK if there's 'real news' or not coming out of a 'hot' war zone ... ??? Flash ... you are so disappointing on so many levels ...

You have got to be fucking kidding me, do you revel in your ignorance or are you even aware of it? The only way for the vast majority of the public to know what is going on over there is to get it from the news. How else do you suggest reporters get the facts and stories of the war? Sitting in a briefing room in Kabul? How the hell are people supposed to find out what is going on? The press largely tells the public the who, what, where and why we are fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan. Who else are we to rely on, the politicians and military PAO's?

Flash ... you are so disappointing on so many levels ...

You both disgust me ... neither one of you have a clue.

Boo-fucking-hoo, cry me a river.

 

[Flash]

Oh but the american people have a RIGHT to know what's really going on man.

The American people do have the right to know, not the classified stuff, but certainly what our military is doing over there on the larger scale. We live in a free and democratic society where our leaders are ultimately accountable to us.

Sure, yes you do. Join the military and find out.

Don't be so simplistic.

 

[magnetfreezer]

Real news keeps us honest. It keeps us from being flat-out lied to about what our forces are doing as in the "Friday Follies" of Vietnam. And if we're on the up and up, it gives credible independent reporting of our activities that carries more weight to outsiders than just the PAO saying everything's A-OK.

If the MSNBCNNAljazeeraMMXRealNews investigative team had been around during WW2, we probably would not have won that war either - nightly news dispatches mewling for an investigation on the incineration of 400,000 German civilians in the firebombing of Dresden and praise for Hitler's efforts to take back his native land from the Jews. While the military should not generally go around actively censoring (=prior restraint) in a free society, there is no constitutional obligation to assist/protect the press overseas either.

 

[eddie]

So is the issue that the guy was deliberately in the wrong place at the wrong time, or that the press in a war zone is a travesty to begin with?

Don't be so simplistic.

I think he was joking.

 

[mmx1]

If the MSNBCNNAljazeeraMMXRealNews investigative team had been around during WW2, we probably would not have won that war either - nightly news dispatches mewling for an investigation on the incineration of 400,000 German civilians in the firebombing of Dresden and praise for Hitler's efforts to take back his native land from the Jews. While the military should not generally go around actively censoring (=prior restraint) in a free society, there is no constitutional obligation to assist/protect the press overseas either.

Or we might have found out about the Holocaust far sooner than when it was later revealed. Life's a bitch.

What's funny is, the "fictional" examples you cite did happen. There was antagonistic coverage of Dresden and the nature of the bombing was debated in Britain. There was certainly no shortage of Nazi sympathizers in the US and until Pearl Harbor Roosevelt couldn't summon the national will to go to war with Hitler.

 

[A4sForever]

You have got to be fucking kidding me, do you revel in your ignorance or are you even aware of it? The only way for the vast majority of the public to know what is going on over there is to get it from the news.....

Ya know, Flash ... sometimes you just gotta' say the truth: when it comes right down to it -- 90%+ of guys on this website really don't care what you think or what you say.

Hard saying, but believe it.

Sooooooooo ......... no, ACTUALLY I'm not 'fucking kidding' you ... and I'll stack my 'ignorance' up against yours any day, anyway ... and I'll take those odds any day, anyway ... sorry if I repeated myself.

But as for the 'reporter' who was from the NYT ... and going to bring the 'vast majority' of us the 'NEWS' according to you and those who march the way you do ... you know, the New York Times: the Grey Lady ... the newspaper of record ... the one that's lost much of it's credibility in the past 5-6 years and a HUGE part of it's subscribers ... the one that's currently dodging bankruptcy. You DO know which news 'source' we're discussing, right ???

Going to bring the vast majority of us 'the news' ??? You mean that paper that reflects the sensibilities of Manhattan ... and is clueless as to what goes on in the rest of the world???

Riiiiiiii-i-i-i-i-i-i-ight. THAT's the one !!!!

 

[skidkid]

Isn't the demise of the print media good for the planet. Just a thought.

 

[mmx1]

I'll stack up reporting from a former Marine and other reporters with the cojones to go to a combat zone and observe the world firsthand over your self-assured illusion of omniscience. It's pretty rich that you're calling them clueless.

My ignorance? You mean where I acknowledged that there already was slanted coverage of the Axis without the need to resort to what-if's? The NYT was not alone in burying the Holocaust, the administration also downplayed it, so the official line was certainly of no help.

 

[A4sForever]

Isn't the demise of the print media good for the planet. Just a thought.

Save a tree.

 

[A4sForever]

... My ignorance? ...

O.K. ... I give up.

How 'bout this: I really don't like YOU nor Flash .. nor have much respect for your views ... ??

How's that for Naval Aviation, squadron honesty ... ???

 

[Flash]

Ya know, Flash ... when it comes right down to it -- 90%+ of guys on this website really don't care what you think or what you say.

Eh, this isn't a beauty contest. What makes you think you are any different?

How 'bout this: I really don't like YOU nor Flash .. nor have much respect for your views ... ??

Just how will I survive?

 

[jtmedli]

Then how are regular citizens supposed to find out what is really going on? If civilian reporters were not in the war zones reporting on what was going on then the news would look an awful lot like wht I watched on AFRTS, which is not much more than 'feel good' fluff.

I'm not exactly sure what reporters in combat zones think they are doing. I don't need to see Geraldo pimpin an M1Abrams tank in the middle of the Iraq Desert while he screams out their position on national television to know 'whats going on'. If the American People are so naive or immature that they need to see videotape of Iraqi/Syrian/Iranian/etc... terrorist shooting Marines to know 'what is really going on' then screw 'em.

I don't have a problem with reporters being in Iraq or A-stan while a war is going on and trying to document it, but having them outside of safe zones and running around in active combat is just irresponsible. Reporters should be responsible enough to know when to record a good story and when to just stay the hell out of the way.

 

[jtmedli]

I can imagine going to war with a reporter is like taking a girlfriend hunting. Sometimes you have a good one who knows when to shut up and just deal with the doe piss smell... but more often then not she's scaring away the deer and making your life miserable.

Possibly the best analogy ever!!

 

[SkywardET]

Children, senile elders, and the mentally infirm also require protection and rescue.

That being said, I am glad there are reporters out there documenting it. I just wish that they wouldn't be so obviously selective at times, didn't have to report back to editors with axes to grind, and in general knew what the hell they were doing out there.

And with that also being said, the New York Times is a virtually worthless publication. No journalistic integrity on a printed media source is a bad thing. You can get away without having any integrity in the TV media, from a business standpoint, if you make up for it in entertainment value (i.e. FOX News).