Using GI was one of Reporter's best days

The Poynter Institute ^ | 9 December 2004 | Lee Pitts

[Racehorse]

From: [Chattanooga Times Free Press military reporter] Pitts, Lee
Sent: Wednesday, December 8, 2004 4:44 PM
To: [Chattanooga Times Free Press staffers]
Subject: RE: Way to go

I just had one of my best days as a journalist today. As luck would have it, our journey North was delayed just long enough see I could attend a visit today here by Defense Secretary Rumsfeld. I was told yesterday that only soldiers could ask questions so I brought two of them along with me as my escorts. Before hand we worked on questions to ask Rumsfeld about the appalling lack of armor their vehicles going into combat have. While waiting for the VIP, I went and found the Sgt. in charge of the microphone for the question and answer session and made sure he knew to get my guys out of the crowd.

So during the Q&A session, one of my guys was the second person called on. When he asked Rumsfeld why after two years here soldiers are still having to dig through trash bins to find rusted scrap metal and cracked ballistic windows for their Humvees, the place erupted in cheers so loud that Rumsfeld had to ask the guy to repeat his question. . . .

The great part was that after the event was over the throng of national media following Rumsfeld- The New York Times, AP, all the major networks -- swarmed to the two soldiers I brought from the unit I am embedded with. . . . But it felt good to hand it off to the national press. I believe lives are at stake with so many soldiers going across the border riding with scrap metal as protection.

. . . The solider who asked the question said he felt good b/c he took his complaints to the top. When he got back to his unit most of the guys patted him on the back but a few of the officers were upset b/c they thought it would make them look bad. From what I understand this is all over the news back home.

Thanks

Lee

[Racehorse]

The Guardsman had every right to ask Rumsfeld hard questions. But he had no right, in my opinion, to act as an embedded reporter's hand puppet.

[dandelion]

I'm pretty sure the guardsman didn't think of himself as "the reporter's hand puppet" but unfortunately, the reporter used him as such. That in itself is just plain wrong in every sense.

I really don't blame the guardsman, but I am very unhappy with the reporter.

These guys need to be asking these questions about armor, but the reporter is NOT looking in the right places for the answers. The reporter's actions were NOT ethical in the least, and he knows it.

[Howlin]

So do the people he claims made sure that the Guardsman got a mike.

[DooDahhhh]

More of the leftist media BS, I say.

[Viet Vet in Augusta GA]

Want to know why I left journalism for law after my tour of duty in Vietnam? Read the above.

[Racehorse]

Just noticed the complete email is already posted at http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1297858/posts

Sorry for the duplication.

I did search using various options, but this search engine seems rather difficult and rigid at times. 

[DustyMoment]

If the reporter AND the Guardsman wanted to know why the Guardsmen were having to dig through trash bins for scrap metal to use as armor, they should have asked John Kerry, NOT Don Rumsfeld (I guess they got confused - John/Don sound alike).

After all, as Kerry so proudly told us during the campaign, he "actually voted FOR the $87 Billion BEFORE he voted against it."

[NetValue]

It proves that the recent poll about whom-do-you-trust was correct to put reporters right down there with used-car salesmen as the low of the lowest.

The questionb was not motivated to gain accurate information but to embarrass the Secretary of Defense. Court martial the soldier who did it. Yank the credential that allows the reporter to be embedded!!!

[mewzilla]

Look at it this way...if this get the troops they armor plating they need any faster while embarrassing the press, I'd call it a win-win situation :)

[Banjoguy]

Svengali and Trilby?

[rlmorel]

I can agree with that. However, there is a bigger issue here.

The issue, in my opinion, is military behavior. My dad was a 30 year Naval Veteran of three wars, and I spent 4 years in the USN myself working the flight deck on a bird farm, so my view is colored by this. I think what this soldier did in collaborating with this reporter was wrong. If he spoke out on his own, he had all my respect. But he was being used as a tool by a reporter with an agenda and an appetite for personal fame and advancement. That puts his behavior in the realm of being at odds with the UCMJ in a wartime situation.

And by the way, he wasn't a 19 year old guy. He was a 31 year old who should have known better. He won't be punished for it, I think, but he should be, in my opinion. By his ex-wife's approving endorsement of this soldier, he sounds like the kind of loudmouth that his superiors need to keep on a short leash to prevent him from negatively impacting a unit's morale and cohesiveness. There are guys like him in every unit, it is a simple fact of life.

What we don't need is some damned POS reporter slinking around in an active duty military unit in a war zone, whispering in guys ears, manipulating things in an effort to further his own political agenda and personal advancement. It is damned poison, as far as I am concerned, and dangerous.

The thing that is most likely to keep these guys alive is not the armor on their vehicles, it is, in my opinion, their training, unit cohesiveness, morale, and ability to concentrate on what they are doing while they are doing it. They can have all the best armor in the world, but if you are demoralized, don't trust your buddies and don't have your head screwed on straight when you need it, armor is just not going to save you.

Do a search on comments by a Freeper named Steel Wolf on this subject. He appears to have some standing, and also knows what he is talking about.

[mewzilla]

What we don't need is some damned POS reporter slinking around in an active duty military unit in a war zone, whispering in guys ears, manipulating things in an effort to further his own political agenda and personal advancement. It is damned poison, as far as I am concerned, and dangerous.

I'll agree with you there. But somehow I don't see this happening again :)

[Racehorse]

I sort of agree.  I've watched (via C-SPAN) Rumsfeld conduct quite a few of these Town Hall type meetings.  Some troops are certainly not shy about asking hard questions. I've always thought Rumsfeld did an excellent job of providing answers.  Here, a town hall meeting reserved exclusively for the troops became a defacto press conference.  This reporter should have respected the exclusive nature of the meeting.  The specialist should not have allowed himself to be used.

Whether or not armor plating upgrades will be accelerated is questionable. 450 up armored Humvees are being produced and sent to Iraq.  Heard this morning that the manufacturer claims they can increased production by over a hundred units, if asked, but have not been asked.  What has not been reported is how many other vehicle types are being up-armored.  Nor do we know what role the logistics of transporting the new equipment to Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere plays in resolving the problem.

But, from a  Defenselink story released today, we know the soldier who asked the question will be getting considerable attention:

Senior military leaders in Kuwait said they had no knowledge of soldiers using scrap to armor their Humvees. Rumsfeld said unit leaders would speak to the soldier who asked the question and find out "what he knows that they may not know, and make sure he knows what they know that he may not know."

Hope he's got a vehicle armored with scrapyard castoffs ready to show the I.G.

[mewzilla]

This reporter should have respected the exclusive nature of the meeting. The specialist should not have allowed himself to be used.

All true, but we can't do jack about that now :) As for griping, troops have always griped. God bless them for griping. I'm not going to second guess a guy who's over there serving, especially when a lot of other guys apparently thought it was a good question to ask. The presstitute who did what he did, well, he can go to Heck for all I care. I don't think he'll be able to pull this again :)

[Racehorse]

This reporter should have respected the exclusive nature of the meeting. The specialist should not have allowed himself to be used.

All true, but we can't do jack about that now :)

Definitely, what has been done cannot be undone.  But, expressing condemnation or support is doing something.  Whether or not the expression does any positive or lasting good is certainly debatable.

The issue is far from over.  The broadcast news is still going strong with it.  Imus and his boys just finished a rant.

Tom Griscom, the editor/publisher of Pitt's paper, the Chattanooga [Tenn.] Times Free Press, generally supported Pitt's reporting, but is quoted in this morning's Editor and Publisher:

"I think he was doing what he felt he was embedded to do: tell the stories of the soldiers of this unit," said Tom Griscom, editor and publisher of the paper. But he criticized the embed's story about the incident, which did not mention the reporter's connection to the soldier who asked the question. . . . He is there to write stories, not make news himself," Griscom said of Pitts. The editor added that the recipient of the e-mail, whom he would not identify, should not have passed it along. "

Today's Times Free Press is supposed to carry an editor's note concerning the controversy, but unfortunately the online issue requires a paid subscription.

I don't think too many here would try to second guess someone in the field.   I don't see this discussion doing any of that. 
 

[sarasotarepublican]

Clinton would have blamed the Republicans for cutting the defense budget. Why isn't someone, on our side, mentioning the fact that the Clinton administration made major cuts in the military? I realize that GWB wouldn't do it. Maybe Hannity or one of the radio talk shows could take advantage of the democrats failure to protect our military.

I am disappointed that Rummy has not increased the production needed. Our soldiers need the very best going into battle, and coming out. They are our true heros and should be rewarded with more than just medals to pin on their uniforms.

[Red Badger]

He calls himself a JOURNALIST. True journalists write the day's happenings in journals, not create a story so that they may pat themselves on the back for rhaving done it.....

[conservativecorner]

From INDC:

Hoo Boy (UPDATED)

Drudge has a pretty interesting post:

Chattanooga Times Free Press reporter Edward Lee Pitts is embedded with the 278th Regimental Combat Team, now in Kuwait preparing to enter Iraq, and is filing articles for his newspaper. Pitts claims in a purported email that he coached soldiers to ask Defense Secretary Rumsfeld questions!

Apparently Mr. Pitts "just had one of" his "best days as a journalist," and it involved influencing the story by coaching participants. To what degree, we don't know. I'm not certain if that qualifies as "journalism;" it may. Without a doubt, it's certainly not "reporting."

UPDATE: Malkin has more:

The reporter sounds like a bit of a creep, but his heart seems to be in the right place and whether or not soldiers were "coached," the e-mail does not take away from the fact that the armor gap is a real problem. Contrary to the reporter's narcissistic impression, however, both the Pentagon and other media have been dealing with the problem.

UPDATE: A more complete treatment from Editor & Publisher:

“The NY Times reporter asked me to email him the stories I had already done on it, but I said he could search for them himself on the Internet and he better not steal any of my lines. I have been trying to get this story out for weeks, as soon as I found out I would be on an unarmored truck, and my paper published two stories on it. But it felt good to hand it off to the national press. I believe lives are at stake with so many soldiers going across the border riding with scrap metal as protection. It may be to late for the unit I am with, but hopefully not for those who come after.

[conservativecorner]

RUMSFELD SET UP

You know that supposedly courageous soldier being hailed in the media for taking on Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld at that question and answer session in Kuwait? Turns out he was planted there by a reporter. So after all of these reports about the disgruntled rank-and-file "grilling" Rumsfeld, the whole thing turned out to be a sham. Figures.

Apparently the perpetrator in all of this is one Edward Lee Pitts, reported for the Chattanooga Times Free Press. Knowing that there would be a Q & A with Rumsfeld and that the press would not be allowed to ask questions, he decided to hatch his own plan to embarrass the secretary. He found some gullible troops and the plot was hatched.

As Pitts himself tells the story in an e-mail leaked to the Drudge Report:

"I was told yesterday that only soldiers could ask questions so I brought two of them along with me as my escorts. Before hand we worked on questions to ask Rumsfeld about the appalling lack of armor their vehicles going into combat have. While waiting for the VIP, I went and found the Sgt. in charge of the microphone for the question and answer session and made sure he knew to get my guys out of the crowd."

So there you have it. Will the media fully retract their original stories, based on the fact that it did not take place the way it was originally described? Of course not.

[nicolezmomma]

That soldier isn't a victim. He wanted to be convinced to ask a question a lot of people have wanted to ask. He probably enjoyed his 10 minutes of fame. And he will have to deal with the consequences of his command structure.

Of more concern to me is the leftist press among our troops contributing to dissent, low morale and division of the team with negative attitudes. All that negative energy really messes up troop cohesion.

During the Afghanistan war, several very negative contractors were asked to not return to work because they pulled the team down with their constant complaints about nothing going the 'right' way. They were right, but it didn't matter because nothing was going to change, and they just brought everybody down.