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Embedded
Media Give Up Independence
by
Robert Jensen
April
8, 2003
Just
as the Pentagon developed increasingly sophisticated munitions for the
battlefield abroad, it has perfected propaganda to secure public opinion at
home. In that battle, American citizens need critical, independent journalists
if they are to get the information necessary to participate meaningfully in the
formation of policy. Never has that been more crucial, as the United States
unleashes an attack on Iraq that signals a new era of the use of force.
Unfortunately, in the first few days of the conflict and the months leading to
war, American journalism has largely failed on several counts.
Citizens
in a democracy should be able to expect from journalists:
*
a trustworthy source of facts gathered independently of powerful institutions.
*
the historical, political, and social context to help make sense of facts.
*
the widest range of opinion to allow people to test their own conclusions
against alternatives.
Factual
information from journalists in the first days of the war has come
overwhelmingly from government briefings and reporters ''embedded'' in military
units. Such briefings are never a source of trustworthy news; reporters have
few ways to verify what the military officers and government officials tell
them, and history suggests we should expect officials to omit crucial
information and fudge on facts. During the Vietnam War, Pentagon spokesmen kept
insisting in news briefings that they could ''see the light at the end of the
tunnel.''
Embedded
journalists will be allowed to report most of what they see, so long as the war
is going well for US forces. But as part of the deal, reporters accept
censorship as the military deems necessary and they must travel with their
units; an attempt to secure independent transportation will get them shipped
home. If Operation Iraqi Freedom runs into trouble, will the Pentagon make it
easy for reporters to cover the ugly side of the war?
By
accepting the Pentagon system, journalists trade independence for access to
troops and a front-row seat to the battles. So far, the embedded reporters have
sent back mostly human-interest stories about the lives of the troops and
celebratory accounts of high-tech weaponry. Some of this is poignant and
dramatic, but it also creates an image of war quite different from the chaotic,
brutal reality, as we saw when coalition casualties began to mount and footage
of US POWs was broadcast on Iraqi television.
The
context and analysis necessary to turn facts into real understanding is largely
missing, especially from television news. When Bush administration officials
talk of bringing democracy to Iraq, for example, few reporters explain that the
United States has supported -- and continues to support -- undemocratic regimes
in the region, such as Egypt and Saudi Arabia. Why does the US commitment to
democracy surface only when it serves as justification for war? Some history
and analysis here would be helpful, but journalists rarely press such points.
The
range of opinion in journalism, particularly on television, stretches from A to
B. Current government officials are ''balanced'' by former government officials
on the talk shows. Retired military officers ''critique'' current military officers.
Super-hawks debate regular-strength hawks, joined by an occasional conflicted
moderate. Critics of US policy do appear -- usually only in sound-bite footage
from protest rallies, a format that makes it difficult to develop an argument
that sounds sensible.
None
of these observations is meant to disparage the excellent work of many war
correspondents. But journalists are constrained by the demands of the
institutions in which they work (more concerned with ratings and profits than
critical reporting) and the ideology of the society (which in wartime tends to
demand conformity to reflexive patriotism and nationalism). In such a world,
the routines of ''objective'' journalism -- which overwhelmingly rely on
official sources, mainly from government, military and corporations, and the
intellectuals who serve them -- not surprisingly produces a view of the world
skewed toward the powerful.
At
times, this system produces TV reports in which it is difficult to separate
journalists from the government. Recently CBS News's Jim Axelrod, embedded with
the Third Infantry, discussed an intelligence briefing he sat in on and said,
''We've been given orders.'' Realizing the implications of what he said, he
revised himself: ''Soldiers have been given orders.'' On that same day, NBC
anchor Tom Brokaw began reporting on ''how successful we were'' in a battle
before correcting himself: how successful ''the United States was.'' The
anchors were similarly American-centric as they had more somber news to report,
including Marines engaged in heavy fighting in southern Iraq and a British jet
shot down by a Patriot missile, killing two airmen.
Journalists
should worry about what those slips of their tongues say about their ability to
be independent and honest. So should the American people, if we are serious
about democracy.
Robert Jensen is an associate professor
of journalism at the University of Texas at Austin and author of the book Writing
Dissent: Taking Radical Ideas from the Margins to the Mainstream. He can be
reached at rjensen@uts.cc.utexas.edu.