Wouldn't it be a NOVEL idea for the Defense Dept to require that all imbed reporters working with US troops in an active war zone have PRIOR MILITARY EXPERIENCE. No civilians, no agendas. You want to be embedded with US troops... show us your Honorable Discharge from some branch of the service, show us you know how dangerous active theater operations are, and you are in.
Otherwise, go cover traffic accidents on the Santa Monica freeway.
Dont you think the press would howl at that one!!! But how much better and more accurate would the reporting be.
When the Pentagon said it would imbed reporters, Knight Ridder put out a call for people who a) spoke Arabic or any other Middle Easternish language and b) had prior military experience. I know any Knight Ridder reporters or photogs who wanted to go were able to if they had prior military experience.