Airstrike! The Pentagon simplifies media relations

The Register ^ | 13/03/2003 at 17:10 GMT | John Lettice

[airedale]

Should war in the Gulf commence, the Pentagon proposes to take radical new steps in media relations - 'unauthorised' journalists will be shot at. Speaking on The Sunday Show on Ireland's RTE1 last sunday veteran war reporter Kate Adie said she had been warned by a senior Pentagon official that uplinks, i.e. TV broadcasts or satellite phones, that are detected by US aircraft are likely to be fired on.

Bush pere's Iraq war featured tight control of the media, but the current administration intends to go rather further. According to Adie (who, overseas readers should be aware, is effectively a saint in the UK), the Pentagon is vetting journalists who propose to cover the war, and is taking control of their comms equipment. This presumably will ease the logistics of managing the hacks quite considerably, because if the US has control of all the gear, then any gear it doesn't know about that starts broadcasting is presumably a target.

According to Adie the official told her: "There is a 'no' list... they have been warned." We presume that US forces will not be specifically trying to kill journalists - that escalation sounds more like the next war to us. But by warning of the dangers, the US is providing further discouragement for the few journalists who'll attempt to report from behind Iraqi lines, or to 'freelance' outside the control of the US authorities. And should they get one or two while taking out unidentified communications systems, well, they've covered themselves. They should however bear in mind that should Saint Adie be in the slightest bit damaged, no force on earth will be strong enough to save Tony Blair from the British public.

Adie's remarks came as part of a discussion of war reporting and media freedom which also involved author Phillip Knightley, New York Times war correspondent Chris Hedges and former Irish Times editor Connor Brady. The whole discussion is well worth listening to, and we particularly liked Hedges' put-down of CNN: "CNN survives from war to war; as soon as the war starts they become part of the problem." You can find a partial transcript of Adie's remarks here, and you can get the whole show here.; http://www.radio1.ie/weekend/sundayshow/ (It has to be listened to because I couldn't find a transcript)

[airedale]

I wonder if they belive it?

[dighton]

Histrionic Personality Disorder.

[First_Salute]

This story is typical "liberal media" spin.

The real story is that the battlefield is very much electronic, and both the new military equipment and its use require, in some instances, very strict compliance.

The message to everybody, not merely "the media," is, don't be turning on the following, ____ < listed >, unless you want to be a target.

But of course, the liberals are ready victims.

[coloradan]

I would like to see the peaceniks advise "journalists" that the Pentagon is bluffing and to go ahead and report anyway. Especially hacks from ABC/NBC/CBS/CNN/NPR/PBS.

[skinkinthegrass]

Maybe, The media types should work for Saddam....Hold it, They already are.

[ffusco]

"We presume that US forces will not be specifically trying to kill journalists - that escalation sounds more like the next war to us. "

Beee-ach!

[ffusco]

.....................News from Klandathu............... Federal News Network.............. Live via uplink............. Starship Ticonderoga deployed fo Fail Safe Position............Massive ground/air assault planned somewhere in the Q.Z. .......Admiral Steele says "Marines ready yesterday" ..........................FSFT 100K @34.25...........BASA 500K@ 212.75...........ECS -2.25............................................

[skinkinthegrass]

Setting up and/or screwing-up the the situation...then bitchin' about it...sounds like liberal Media all right...the bombin' starts in 5 seconds...4..3...etc.

[FRgal4u]

maybe Dan Blather will finds out in person how it feels to have a 500 pounder JDAM heading directly between his eyes...lol

[LibertarianInExile]

I would really like to see the Pentagon confirmed this. I don't believe it's true, and while I understand the Pentagon would have this attitude towards journalists in the lines with U.S. troops so that the journalists don't become spies or unwitting dupes supplying info to the enemy, it makes no sense for the U.S. to say that about troops in Iraq proper, say, Baghdad. Their broadcasts and information might well be informative both in terms of intelligence and in terms of telling us what the regime's latest stance is.

Killing reporters, while fun to dream about, is a bad idea for any country which values a free exchange of ideas and information. War is hell, and we should attack these folks if they are potential THREATS, but if it IS the policy of the U.S., our leaders should rethink this policy.

I'll admit that I WISH leftist 'journalists' would be given a special bullseye logo to wear to show they're not combatants :), but I do think that generally, this isn't such a hot concept.