Posted on 11/17/2004 12:37:22 PM PST by freakboy
Kevin Sites, NBC Reporter Who Photographed Marine Shooting, An Active War Correspondent
POSTED: 10:39 am EST November 17, 2004
NEW YORK -- Video of a U.S. Marine shooting a wounded man in Fallujah was captured by an Internet Age journalist who often reports and photographs war stories, then posts his impressions on his own weblog.
Kevin Sites, a freelancer who works part time for NBC News, was being kept under wraps by the network Tuesday as the investigation into the shooting continued.
The youthful, long-haired Sites has worked for NBC, CNN and ABC News and has covered war zones in Afghanistan and Colombia. He had extensive experience in Iraq, where he was embedded with a Marines unit during the operation in Fallujah.
"He is a skilled reporter, a skilled videojournalist who is willing to go and chronicle the news in the difficult places, under difficult conditions," said Bill Wheatley, NBC News vice president.
Sites handled the incident "completely professionally," Wheatley said, recognizing the importance of the story and reporting its aftermath.
While working for CNN a year ago, Sites and a crew were held captive for several hours by Iraqi Fedayeen who accused them of being spies. His hands were bound behind his back and an AK-47 round fired at his feet.
Sites left CNN, he later said, partly because the company would not let him maintain a weblog on his war reporting. CNN declined to comment on Sites Tuesday.
There are no such problems at NBC News: Anchorman Brian Williams even promoted the name of his site at the end of Sites' "Nightly News" report Monday.
His site, www.kevinsites.net, contains his diary of the action in Fallujah. It describes traveling with the Marines and encountering bodies of dead Iraqis along the way: "This one is dressed in clean white sneakers and athletic pants. He is on his back -- his arms behind his head, his face seems nearly peaceful, content."
He also posts pictures of the Marines on patrol and, in off hours, displaying pictures of their families and their tattoos.
Nothing was posted on the weekend incident in a Fallujah mosque, however.
Sites has described his blog as a way for readers to understand more of the experience of being in a war zone.
"Readers want to share your adventure," he told Broadcasting & Cable magazine last summer. "What you see in the paper or on TV tends to be the cleaned-up version. I didn't tell you I had to sleep in the dirt to tell a story for TV."
Sites works only part time for NBC News because he's a filmmaker with his own production company, Shoot First Films. He lives in Pismo Beach, Calif., and taught journalism at California Polytechnic State in San Luis Obispo in 2000-2001.
"He has skills in a number of areas, so he's the classic multitasking journalist," Wheatley said. "He can shoot (a camera), he can report, he can build a Web site, he edits."
I hope he eats dirt!
BOYCOTT GE and ALL NBC's sponsors. [LIST COMING, Freepers?]
Are you this man Kevin ?
I have the same question!
I've watched many broadcasts by Sites. He never impressed me as someone who would be "out to get" anyone.
No more embedded reporters on sensitive missions. We will not win this way.
freakboy Since Sep 15, 2004
He should be covered with dirt.
I've already un-programed NBC from my TV....
Should the Marine from the Saturday Incident be prosecuted?
Yes (6.3 %) 48 votes
No (93.7 %) 718 votes
Total Votes: 766
Why is he kept under wraps at the same time they disclose personal information about him such as where he lives.It seems really odd. I would not be happy about that if I was him.
"his own production company, Shoot First Films."
Ironically named.
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