Journalists embedded with the military: Who made the decision???

[dawn53]

This seems to me to be a brilliant idea. Even liberal channels have trouble maintaining their liberal "slant" once they've gotten the reports from these embedded reporters. Does anyone have any sources or articles that would nail down whose idea it was to do this?

[KantianBurke]

what's an embedded reporter?

[mtbopfuyn]

Don't have a source, but agree with all your points.

[steveegg]

what's an embedded reporter?

That is a reporter that is travelling with the troops and doing constant reports with very few restrictions. I don't know who thought of this, but in the balance, it seems to be a good idea.

[Chancellor Palpatine]

The MSNBC guys are awesome, and really upbeat.

[dawn53]

The reporters that are actually traveling with our military and reporting from their positions.

[KantianBurke]

Didn't they do this during the Vietnam War? If so, this is a terrible idea as we all know the eventual repercussions of that policy were.

[katana]

It's a reporter with a satchel sized uplink and webcam. Most of them seem to have bonded with their assigned units. The problems may come if and when one of those units gets into deep s**t. For a movie analogy, recall the correspondent being bitten in half by a "bug" in the film Starship Troopers.

[dawn53]

I never watch NBC but was flipping through and saw David Brooks(I think that was his name) and after his enthusiastic report that lasted about 10 minutes, Matt and Katie had nothing negative to say.

Amazing!!!

I've been flipping back and forth watching the different channels when they have these reports coming in and they've all been so positive. Seems the reporters instead of being skeptics are caught up in the comraderie of battle.

[af_vet_rr]

Your right, it is hard for them to stay liberal, when the big bad Americans are seen treating the Iraqi POWs as human beings (the footage of American soldiers giving water to the Iraqi POWs, who obviously were starving and suffering was a PR man's dream), as well as showing that the Americans are truly going after military targets and doing everything possible to avoid civilian casualties. This was a good move on the military's part, it's hard to put a liberal slant on things when you can see for yourself what is going on.

Also, the oft-repeated footage of reporters having to don gas masks in Kuwait, showing that Saddam has weapons that he claimed he didn't have, as well as his distinct disregard for the lives of Kuwaiti civilians has got to be swaying world opinion.

I still disagree with the way some of it has been handled (primarily CNN calling up relatives of those soldiers in the convoys and talking to the relatives while you see the soldiers speeding across the desert). Overall though, I think the PR is good.

[Minutes]

embedded reporter ..... Strange choice of words, eh? The first time I heard it, CNN's Aaron Brown was trying to say it without laughing. Soon they all got used to it and can say it easily.

I don't know who decided to 'embed' them, but I am afraid for CNN's Nic Robertson - he's not exactly embedded ... He's reporting from a hotel in Bagdad... man, I don't envy him!

I do wish them ALL good luck and godspeed !

Laurea - in Canada

[KantianBurke]

[theDentist]

I like it and I don't. Reporters will see what life in the military is really like under adverse conditions (morale of nation would be hightened seeing how our men and women meet this devil). But my fear is that in a firefight, someone is going to have to protect the untrained reporters, and may lose their lives in the process.

[dawn53]

From what I've gathered, when there has been armed conflict the reporters are not allowed out of the vehicles. At least that's the reports I've heard.

[coloradan]

what's an embedded reporter?

Reporters are outfitted with a special suit and then accelerated to high speed into a structure or the ground. From that location, "embedded" within it, they are able to report on the war's progress. Apparently, the impact knocks sense into them and causes them to soften, if not abandon, their usual radical left, anti-military, anti-US stance so common among non-embedded reporters.

[mattdono]

I agree. I was flipping around late last night and caught David Bloom out with your troops and he addressed the issue of "journalistic integrity".

I thought that he was very fair in his comments, and I got a different sense of his perspective. He conceded that they needed to maintain some distance, but gleefully praised the Marines he was with. He commented (glowingly, I might add) to their professionalism. He genuinely seemed to have a respect for our troops...something that journalists never seem to do. You know, they "must maintain their objectivity" (1991, Bernie "Saddam sucker" Shaw).

Just thought that I would through in the proper citation...though I don't have the specific reference to his quote.

[mattdono]

Ah...beat me to it. It was David Bloom, but, hey, close enough.

[CholeraJoe]

I'd like to embed Patty Ann Browne.

[houston_matt]

"The MSNBC guys are awesome, and really upbeat."

So YOU'RE the one who watches that channel... : )