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From
Editor & Publisher Online
http://www.editorandpublisher.com
Some Journalists Will
Go It Alone in Iraq To 'Embed' or Not?
By Joe Strupp
MARCH 12, 2003
NEW YORK -- Ask Jeffrey
Fleishman of the Los Angeles Times if he wishes that he were among the hundreds
of reporters embedded with U.S. military troops and the veteran scribe doesn't
mince words. "I'm glad I'm not," he said during a satellite-phone interview from
northern Iraq, where he's been assigned for two months. "I like the freedom of
movement and the choice to see the story from the middle."
Fleishman's comments echoed
those of many nonembedded correspondents assigned to the Middle East in preparation
for a possible U.S. invasion. Most of them savor the freedom to move independently
and cover stories beyond those related to U.S. armed forces. Despite not being
connected with specific units, many believe they will be able to provide good
combat coverage. "I think we will have opportunities to hook up with forward units,"
said Karl Vick, a correspondent for The Washington Post, using a satellite phone
outside his hotel in Sulaymaniyah in northern Iraq, while grilling fish with a
few other reporters. "The downside is that the American military shoots a lot
of people. You might want to be on their side of the line when that happens."
There's a bit of disconnect
in this, however. Newspaper editors say they hope most of the nonembeds steer
clear of battlefields, yet many of the reporters and photographers E&P contacted
expressed a burning desire to get close to the action. But if they are strongly
discouraged from doing that, virtually all combat coverage will come from reporters
laboring under heavy military restrictions.
Pentagon spokesman Bryan
Whitman said that nonembedded reporters who go into combat areas likely will not
be stopped, but probably will face more danger than embeds. "I would discourage
reporters from roaming the battlefields," he told E&P. Other military officials
added that civilian vehicles would not be allowed in combat areas, but stopped
short of saying they would be confiscated.
Col. Jay DeFrank, director
of press operations for the U.S. Department of Defense, pointed out that reporters
who worked independently in other recent U.S. combat situations, such as in Afghanistan,
were permitted to roam, but added, "I don't see them being allowed to join our
forces."
Still, the "unilaterals"
-- as they are widely known -- appear glad to make their own choices. Embeds "can
only do what they want you to," said Chang W. Lee, a photographer for The New
York Times who is also stationed in northern Iraq. "We are here to find out what
really happened. Once you are with the troops, you do what they want." John Makely,
a nonembedded photographer with The Sun of Baltimore working out of Kuwait, agreed.
However, Laurie Goering,
a correspondent for the Chicago Tribune, admits that the embeds have one significant
advantage. "It looks like it will be safer to be embedded," she said via phone
from the Kuwait City house she is sharing with six other Tribune Co. journalists.
"When you are by yourself in the desert, it is harder to tell what is coming your
way."
Strict guidelines for
embedded reporters, which place limits on reporting "sensitive" information, ban
off-the-record interviews with military personnel, and allow for "security reviews"
of dispatches, have sparked complaints from some observers.
Although editors would
love to get good combat coverage from journalists who can report without military
restrictions, none believe it is worth risking their lives. "Combat is only one
part of this equation," said James Smith, foreign editor of The Boston Globe,
which will have four embedded reporters and at least four others in the region.
"We are also very concerned about the diplomatic issues in the region."
Knight Ridder military
stories will come largely from embeds, Washington Bureau Chief John Walcott said.
"In a fast-paced atmosphere where the threat of chemical and biological weapons
exists, anyone who thinks they'll rent a truck and drive to Baghdad because they're
suspicious of the U.S. military is in for some surprises," warned Walcott, who
has four nonembedded reporters stationed in northern Iraq. He said nonembeds will
play a vital role when the military conflict turns into a story about postwar
Iraq.
Stephen Buckley, assistant
managing editor/world for the St. Petersburg (Fla.) Times, has a reporter/photographer
team in Turkey who will cover northern Iraq and are directed to get "as close
to the action as possible," but he stressed that his two embedded staffers will
cover most of the combat.
The Star Tribune in Minneapolis
will send three nonembeds to the Middle East -- one to cover central command briefings
in Qatar, and a reporter and a photographer to cover the Kurdish region of northern
Iraq. "We're not worried about nonembeds covering combat," Star Tribune Nation/World
Editor Dennis McGrath said. "That's why we have embeds." "Because embedding i
s new, there is a tendency to exaggerate its importance," said Philip Bennett,
assistant managing editor for foreign news at The Washington Post, which will
embed 10 staffers, with another 10 likely to report from surrounding areas. "The
military phase will be relatively short."
For Susan Glasser and
Peter Baker of the Post, covering the possible war in Iraq has become a family
affair. Married for more than two years, the couple -- who normally work out of
the Post's Moscow bureau -- will see both sides of the war coverage, with Baker
embedded with a Marine command unit and Glasser searching out stories for the
Post on her own. "We'd much rather be together, always," said Baker, who spoke
to E&P from the Hilton Kuwait Resort, where the two are staying as Baker awaits
orders. Referring to his wife, he added, "I'm going to worry about her, but she
is a savvy and smart correspondent."
ENDS
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