Posted on 09/21/2003 10:55:31 PM PDT by Pikamax
SEPTEMBER 18, 2003 Praise and Pans for John Burns Book Excerpt Generates Tons of Mail
NEW YORK -- This past Monday, E&P Online published an oral history with John Burns, the New York Times correspondent, from the new book Embedded: The Media at War in Iraq (The Lyons Press). Among other things, Burns charged that some reporters in Baghdad curried favor with Saddam Hussein's regime by neglecting to fully expose its many brutalities. Our excerpt inspired wide coverage of Burns' charges in other media this week, and more e-mails to E&P Online than any article in memory, with many hailing his "courage." Here is a selection:
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John Burns' "There is Corruption in Our Business," is a brilliant, important contribution to American journalism at a critical point in the history of our country ... and our craft. A salute to him for writing it, and to you for publishing it. It is my hope that this outstanding piece of work will reach the widest possible distribution and readership.
Dan Rather CBS News, New York
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[Burns] states that the war on Iraq could be justified by human rights abuses alone. Why wasn't this clear to the vast majority of the Security Council members last winter? The answer is because the United States and most of its unwitting media have been distorting information coming out of Iraq for years in order to justify the brutal sanctions and military attacks against the regime which simply will not go along with Washington's directives.
Mark Gery
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Ed Murrow would be proud.
Cornelius Geary Milwaukee, Wis.
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I don't think much of the author or his concept that U.S. Armed Forces who volunteer to defend the U.S. Constitution, America, and U.S. citizens against enemies foreign and domestic should thereby be obligated to protect human rights anywhere in the world. With 26 years of active duty myself, including combat in Korea and Vietnam, I don't know one combatant who would agree with John Burns. Those in non-combat roles might be that naive. I believe he exaggerates his role and position with the Iraqis he professes to have dealt with.
Gayle Gardner Honolulu
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Burns' article on the corruption in reporting from Iraq was simply stunning. I think that the journalism profession has yet to come to grips with the fact that some of the reporting on Iraq was unbelievably superb, and some was so bad as to constitute deliberate lying. A good chunk of the journalism profession has been proved to be utterly untrustworthy and worthless as reporters, either due to bias or the pursuit of self-interest. In contrast, there are those incredible professionals like Mr. Burns, Michael Kelly, and the other "embeds." The question is: What is the journalism profession going to do about it? Right now it seems to be business as usual.
Robert Eleazer Merritt Island, Fla.
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Ask the brave Mr. Burns to go to the rest of the Third World countries -- most of whom enjoy excellent political relationships with the U.S. -- and ask around among the poorer sections of the populace if torture, corruption, and general "evil" is not a staple of their lives. He will be surprised to find just how widespread it is among the U.S.'s "friends." And does anyone do anything about it? So much hue and cry over "evildoers" in Iraq -- but coming from a Third-world country, I find it to be just more of the same self-serving propaganda this country constantly dishes out to the rest of the world. John Burns' attempt to portray himself as "heroic" for reporting the "truth" (whose truth?) is pathetic.
M. Locsin
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Just read Mr. Burn's article -- all of it. There may be hope for The New York Times after all!
Julia Winklepleck
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Undoubtedly, John Burns is PC, not Politically Correct, but Pentagon Correct. Let's see John celebrate the fact that 500,000 Iraqi children were starved in the '90s by a U.S. administration whose Secretary of State Albright said, "The price is well worth it," in response to Leslie Stall's correct assertion that the U.S. government followed through on an economic embargo against Iraq they knew would lead to the death of 500,000 Iraqi children. Not sure about John, but I would have to rule out any "policy" that would kill 500,000 children as too high a price. Why isn't John reporting about the 10,000 Iraqi civilians and 20,000 Iraqi soldiers, who have died since the start of Operation Iraqi Freedom? Iraq has already seen upwards of 1 million deaths as a direct result of U.S. economic and military involvement since early 1991. Why do millions have to die to further U.S. economic and political goals? Yes, let's not forget the 3,000 Americans who were murdered by terrorists on Sept. 11. Should our response to a crime of terrorism that kills 3,000 be to kill 30,000?
Timothy Butler Albany, N.Y.
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Thank God that there is one journalist who has the guts to tell the truth. I had given up hope. Hooray for John Burns! May the rest of those self serving newspaper people rot in hell for the abdication of their responsibilities. What's so funny is that those who run the newspapers can't understand why ordinary men and women are so cynical about the press. They'd rather re-arrange the chairs on the deck of the Titanic than deal with the real issue, the disappearance of objective truth.
Denis Rowe Franklin, Tenn.
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I think John Burns embodies the paradigm for the righteous and truth-telling journalist. Journalism, I've always believed, is a calling. I tell my sometime journalism students this because sacrifice as well as the highest standards in telling the truth in any given situation are often called for.
Years ago I and the late Paul Avery took apart the Black Panther "regime" under Huey Newton operating from its Oakland base and published in the now defunct New Times magazine. Many liberals joined Black Panthers in condemning the article. These so-called progressives insisted that whatever the faults of the Panthers, what was done to them by racist government and police departments was so much worse, that to report Panther criminality was to serve the racist masters who held government powers.
I have never believed this and find such arguments false but also painful in the acceptance of any brutality and inhumane behavior which in the case of the Black Panthers was rampant, particularly to their own lower rank and filers.
So John Burns expresses in his way and in the Iraqi situation what I also believe: that the journalist must report evil doings no matter who the perpetrators are, whether their own government and any of its allies or among those who fight the governments.
Kate Coleman
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WOW! Now there's a "look at me, I'm better than you, holier than thou" article for you. Frankly, there is nothing in that self-aggrandizing excerpt that wasn't already known to anyone who reads the "alternative" news sources online.
Mr. Burns, get over yourself.
Eric Dolman Newport News, Va.
Source: Editor & Publisher Online
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