Posted on 09/17/2005 9:59:34 AM PDT by new yorker 77
On Sept. 26th, veteran war correspondent Kevin Sites will embark on a yearlong journey as a solo journalist to cover every armed conflict in the world. Yahoo! News will bring you Kevin Sites in the Hot Zone.
Meet Kevin Sites
One of the world's most respected war correspondents, Kevin Sites has spent the past five years covering global war and disaster for several national TV networks. Now he joins Yahoo! News to provide a unique, multimedia perspective on some of the world's most troubled and dangerous places.
A solo journalist ("SoJo"), Sites will carry a backpack of portable digital technology to shoot, write, edit, and transmit daily reports from nearly every region of the world. You'll be able to follow his endeavor through stories, photos, video and audio, and you'll be able to interact with him.
Sites helped pioneer solo journalism, traveling and reporting without a crew. His past assignments have brought him to nearly every region of the world, including the Middle East, Southeast Asia, Central Asia, South America, and Eastern Europe.
He has been nominated for a national Emmy award and honored with the Payne Award for ethics in journalism for both his television and Web coverage. Wired magazine named Sites as the recipient of their RAVE Award the first ever for blogging.
Our Mission: To cover every armed conflict* in the world within one year, and in doing so to provide a clear idea of the combatants, victims, causes, and costs of each of these struggles - and their global impact. With honest, thoughtful reporting we'll strive to establish Kevin Sites in the Hot Zone as a forum for information and involvement. Users will not only learn about the scope of world conflict, but will find ways to be part of the solutions- through dialogue, debate, and avenues for action.
How We'll Do It: Veteran war correspondent Kevin Sites will travel solo to these conflict zones, aided by a U.S.-based "mission control" team: Producer Robert Padavick (NBC News, CNN) and Researcher Lisa Liu (Radio Free Asia, International Medical Corps).
Using the latest technology, including high-definition digital cameras and satellite modems, Kevin will deliver stories via a five-fingered multimedia platform of text, photography, video, audio, and interactive chat - all available on one website (http://hotzone.yahoo.com).
Our Principles: We will be aggressive in pursuing the stories that are not getting mainstream coverage and we will put a human face on them. We will not chase headlines nor adhere to pack journalism but vigorously pursue the stories in front of and behind the conflict, the small stories that when strung together illustrate a more complete picture.
We are professional journalists and will apply to our work the ethical code of conduct as outlined by the Society of Professional Journalists: http://www.spj.org/ethics_code.asp
To seek and report the truth. To minimize harm. To act independently. To be accountable. We strongly believe, as stated in the preamble of this code, "that public enlightenment is the forerunner of justice and the foundation of democracy."
We also will add four more criteria to our work that will take us above the journalistic code. We also pledge in our reporting and storytelling:
Transparency An honest and authentic accounting of both our failure and successes, to pull back the curtain on our editorial and technological process. We refuse to propagate the myths of the omniscient, infallible correspondent.
Vulnerability We will strive to live, breathe, and experience the lives of the people we are covering -including the daily dangers they're exposed to from combat, disease, and hardship.
Empathy We may not always agree with our sources, but we will make every effort to understand their positions and report them with clarity, so that our audience may have context and perspective.
Solutions Our site will contain links to organizations and groups that are working to aid victims of these conflicts and assist in their peaceful resolutions.
11/15/2004: NBC: Marine Kills Wounded Iraqi
http://www.littlegreenfootballs.com/weblog/?entry=13604&only=yes
Kevin Sites portrayed the actions of these brave Marines as criminal in his original reporting.
Al Jazeera loves Sites.
Sites was also captured by Fedayeen fighters and strangely released in the early days of the war.
This man is detested by the Marines.
The propagandist for the enemy gets another reporter job. Go figure. Just remember there is no bias folks, only good clean honest information that you need to know.
What's a "journalist?" Isn't that some form of extinct mammal that used to own all the printing presses that are idle and are now just scrap metal?
The Marines are far from alone.
It's ashame the military forced the Marines to haul this Tokyo Rose around Fallujah with him. The minute he could turn on his protectors he did.
So true.
It's amazing --- the media's all-out attack on the military. I honestly never thought it would get this bad.
What is the over/under for the number of wars visited before Sites goes Tango Unit?
Sites is a 'solo performer', an exhibitionist, really. He's in the journalism field to cover (or un-cover) himself.
click here to read a report by a real "on the scene" reporter about the reaction of a Matriarch in Iraq to a father and son deployed and serving together in the Guard! Should be mandatory reading for the entire Yahoo News crew!
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