COIN & The Media (catch all)

[BayonetBrant]

Might just be me but i coulda sworn thats what having three separate but equal branches was all about

If they were actually equal anymore, that'd be a good argument, but since the executive seems to run roughshod over the other two for the past 15-20 years, I'm not so sure that's a good argument anymore...

[Ken White]

over the other two -- and for longer than the last 15-20 years (See Roosevelt, F.D and Truman, H.S.). Few can compare to the abilities of Johnson (because he knew Congress better than any before or since) or Nixon (who didn't care) in the fairly successful running business. Yet, both of them effectively got trumped by the other two...

Clinton got squashed by Congress several times, as did Bush 43. The courts also backed off Bush 43 on several counts. All Presidents try to extend their power, few succeed. The current one will also try (already is) -- he's equally unlikely to succeed.

[ODB]

and my thoughts with the press today. Honestly I say we throw them all out, stop providing them security, and let's see how far they get. Funny how quickly they forget Daniel Pearl!!!!

Don't dare use the word terrorist.

Don't remind people about 9/11 by replaying the images of the twin towers burning.

Don't report what truly takes place, put your spin on it, to get headlines and be the editors pet for the day.

Journalist are about as lowly as politians in my eye!!!

Yes I am jaded and will be for years to come.

Hey you journalists out there anyone want to come tell the stories of the men I work with who are still doing their jobs with limbs missing? Not sensational enough for you, you'd much rather cover the woe is me, look what happened to me and now I'm against the war people. Guess what those people volunteered, they signed the paperwork, they are just upset they had to actually go earn their paycheck. None are worse than this one Duckworth.

Want me to respect you and be somewhat open to you, you have got to earn it, do what is right. As long as you continue your shady ways, I will continue to go out of my way to avoid you and crush you every chance I get.

Sorry for the rant, but you wanted to know why I feel the way I do, this is just a small taste, the politically correct version.

[George L. Singleton]

Cow Cookie:

Take a look at my posting last year [2008] pushing for revived Voice of America programing as per the 0/11 Commission Formal Recommendations, to counter Arab media negative to us, in particular al Jazeera.

As an older hand who used to work wargamming as a Chief of same for old USREDCOM, which then became USSOCOM (I was a reservist at the Assistant Chief of Staff level in both outfits, a weekend warrior, not an active duty type) civil affairs and psychological warfare was then, at least, one of our greatest weak spots.

Since 9/11 however, I thought we had changed over to the imbeded media people with all our units and forces in the field in Iraq and perhaps Afghanistan.

Did you overlook imbedded media in your comments?

Did you think about inclusing of Voice of America in the overall media umbrella efforts in your comments?

Youger, educated Pakistanis, Pukhtuns, and Iraqis do listen to and watch TV broadcasts from and by VOA current tense and many comment on their native websites that they like the programming, particuarly the Western music on air for them to enjoy.

Low key sideline comments by me for your reply or reaction.

[davidbfpo]

A story in The Daily Telegraph (UK) on UK-sponsored adverts in Pakistan, to show the West is not the enemy: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worl...-Pakistan.html

The Guardian (UK) slightly more detailed report: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009...ising-campaign

Might fit in a Pakistani thread, but this one is about media and COIN.

davidbfpo

[davidbfpo]

Currently there are two UK TV series on Afghanistan; a popular "hardman" with the British troops, two episodes so far and he is respectful of the Taliban's fighting skills, with 1m viewers: one review article http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/t...ghanistan.html and to the programme http://sky1.sky.com/ross-kemp-2

To come, I think next week, is a fly-on-the-wall documentary on the medics who serve, mainly reservists.

Maybe some unintended effects, dispite "minders" and spin doctors. Ross Kemp's comment for example on the lack of helicopters will be noted widely.

davidbfpo

[BayonetBrant]

(Just a note - I hope my off-the-cuff comment above about the gov't doesn't end up derailing this conversation.)



I will say that there are some perfectly good journalists out there who are trying hard to do the best job they can. I will also say that many military folks I know paint journalists with a broad brush of adversarialism with very little understanding of a journalist's perspective. Journalists are from an entirely different world, and many times they will make errors of context, perspective, or understanding not out of malice, but out of lack of knowledge. It's ignorance, not animosity. You can educate and train, but without living the military 24-7-365 it's hard to understand for an outsider.

This is why you will see quotes taken out of context - because the reporter lacks the context to properly frame them.
A great example was back in the '90s when ABC did a report on racism at Ft Bragg. Sam Donaldson was hammering on some company commander about why he didn't investigate reported racist incidents in his company. The CO CDR had reported the incidents to the BDE EO office, and was told that they were investigating. Under the Army policy at the time, the CO CDR was forbidden from investigating EO incidents himself, which is why he turned it over to the BDE EO office. Donaldson kept pounding on this CPT about why he didn't 'take responsibility for his unit' (paraphrasing) and investigate anyway. Donaldson lacked the requisite context of the EO office and how it worked to understand why the CO CDR backed off. It was not his job. But he was the guy sitting in front of the camera, so he got the questions.

I will tell you that I've got 14 years in uniform under my belt (4 active, 10 ARNG) and I work with a defense contractor now that I'm out. I also have my first 21 years growing up in the Army with my father, a career redleg. Oh, and my Master's degree is in Journalism, and 2 of my dad's brothers are journalists. I see this from both sides.

There are young guns out there - as there are in every field - who want to make a name for themselves by pushing for something that grabs attention. For every cub reporter out there trying to play 'gotcha' with a soldier, there's a soldier out there trying to be uber-sniper of his rifle platoon, and for every editor out there that thinks he's onto the great cover-up story of our generation, there's a brigade S2 or S3 out there who thinks he's cracked the code on the local insurgent groups and how to get them to stand down.

What is lacking is the context (to each other) of how those guys are motivated, trained, led, and resourced.

How do you fix it? Well... for one thing, I think the journalism field is one that could benefit greatly from an influx of military folks. I don't mean retired O-5 pundits, either. I'm talking about a horde of E-4s who do their 3-4 years and head off to college on the GI Bill, who enroll in J-schools with the intention of becoming a reporter somewhere. It ain't easy, either, because after earning your way up a few ranks in the Army, then going through 4 years of school, you're going to be starting over at the bottom of the journalism food chain, wondering why you're on the same rung with some 21-year-old fresh-faced undergrad who'd never traveled more than 50 miles from home, except for a trip with the Spanish Club back in high school. But you're walking into an interview with a newspaper with an understanding of deadlines, commitment, sacrifice, mission-focus, and world of perspective that those kids won't have (and likely a few more passport stamps, too). You're used to working crappy hours, and a lot of them. You understand hierarchy and that you earn your way forward in the office and that things aren't just handed to you.

There's a lot that one-termers can teach a newsroom, but it won't be a situation where you walk into a new job, and 2 weeks later you're off to cover ISAF as an embed. You'll start out covering city council - and surprise, surprise, there's a lot of context and understanding that reporters lack there, too. You'll have to write stories about planning board meetings, the sheriff's new anti-speeding task force, and school reassignment. But you earn your way forward, and you eventually get that assignment cover a deployment to the Horn of Africa.

What does all this have to do with incorporating media into COIN efforts? You have to understand the people you want to incorporate. You have to work out some sort of 'exchange' program where you do more than just host an embed for 6 weeks on deployment. Host an embed for 6 months at your post. Have him show up for everything - formation runs, IWQ, NBC training, the NTC deployment, the re-enlistment ceremonies, the hail & farewell.
And then send your PAO, a company XO, one of your S3 NCOs, all to the local newspaper to work there for several months. Let them shadow a reporter when he goes to cover the school board and see what he goes through. Let the company XO write a news story - on deadline! - about a local political campaign event, and have the newspaper editor critique it.
It'll take some balls to get some BDE/DIV commander to approve that, but if you want to really understand how the media work, this is something to consider. Once you get an understanding of how the media work, you're much better positioned to incorporate them into any effort, not just COIN.


(boy, that was a LOT longer than I'd intended to write)

[J Wolfsberger]

To amplify on my earlier comments, there are still enough of the old school journalists who believe in telling the story straight to make the difference clear. (From your comments on various threads, you seem to fit in that group. Don't take what I wrote personal. )

As for your comments about embedding, I recall an interview with an editor or publisher from the MSM, circa 2002 or 2003. (Sorry, I can't recall more detail than that.) His complaint about the embed process was that the journalists became too sympathetic to the soldiers. (I think he referred to it as bonding with the people they were supposed to be covering.) He didn't like it because it wasn't producing enough dirt.

IMHO, the adversarial relationship is a creation of the media. If they wanted to end it, they would have to begin by rejecting the current concept of journalistic "ethics" and return to the older ideal of dispassionately presenting the facts.

As an example of a journalistic I respect, check out Charlie LeDuff at the Detroit News.

[Ken White]

IMHO, the adversarial relationship is a creation of the media. If they wanted to end it, they would have to begin by rejecting the current concept of journalistic "ethics" and return to the older ideal of dispassionately presenting the facts.

I'll add that I hear and agree with everything Bayonet Brant said -- but...

I agree that Journalism would strongly benefit from being joined by persons with some military experience -- two points occur to me. There won't be enough former military types attracted to journalism to swing the net media anti-military / great unwashed attitude and, worse, those who do opt for such a career will generally have only limited military experience and possibly some biases of their own...

I've spent my entire 75+ years around one service or another, 45 of them in the Marines or Army or working as an Army Civilian employee, am very interested in many aspects of the profession, read a lot -- and I still learn new things every day. I'm not at all sure the average SPC/SGT or 1LT/CPT will bring that much to the profession. It will help, surely but I doubt that it'll produce the major change in knowledge --and more importantly, attitude, that is required for better cooperation and reportage.

The counterpoint of sending military people as interns or assistants to local media outlets may have some benefits -- provided one could get Congress and the media to accede to it. John T. Fishel on another thread suggested that the US Government could solve the unity of command problem in a given nation or theater by the President simply pointing his finger and saying "You are in charge." That is unlikely to happen because Congress would object (Republicans if a Democratic President were to do it or vice versa; ostensibly over Departmental roles and missions, practically over tainting either 'side' with the other). Same thing applies to embedding the Press in the military or the reverse. The adversely affected (in their view) side will get their allies in Congress to object. Consider the MV-22 in service despite the objections of a couple of SecDefs, strong lobbying by other industry entities and the Army and only lukewarm support by the Navy...

But I digress -- back to the Military and the Media. The cliche oil and water are appropriate. I hear and appreciate what Bayonet says -- I strongly doubt it will make much difference; the cultures -- as Spud pointed out LINK are too different...

[ilots]

Did you think about inclusing of Voice of America in the overall media umbrella efforts in your comments?

Youger, educated Pakistanis, Pukhtuns, and Iraqis do listen to and watch TV broadcasts from and by VOA current tense and many comment on their native websites that they like the programming, particuarly the Western music on air for them to enjoy.

However, for quite a while, "we" insisted on promoting objectives other than (& often counter to) our COIN objectives. This have included such things as the diss. of radio media with female broadcasters & singers in heavily Pashtun areas. The BIG picture is often too clouded by our political & social agenda.

[Spud]

I've spent my entire 75+ years around one service or another

Holy #### ... Grandad?

[Ken White]

Holy #### ... Grandad?

that you are getting perilously close to geriatric abuse. Not now an international crime but as those twerps from the Baby Boomer generation approach maturity it will certainly become illegal...

You have been warned!

(Oldest Granddaughter has an Iraq tour under her Riggers Belt... )

[Spud]

You know us Aussies ... no respect for the old and feeble Every now and then someone over here brings up the idea of of the big E. Nothing like clearing a way to the top by knocking everyone off who's over the hill.

Jas

[Ken White]

You know us Aussies ... no respect for the old and feeble

Poms???

... Every now and then someone over here brings up the idea of of the big E. Nothing like clearing a way to the top by knocking everyone off who's over the hill.

However, now that you mention it, I do recall that as a 'Stryne trait, tall Poppies and all that...

And it's true here, too -- 'at's why I became retarded, to open some room for the less competent...

[ODB]

SF Soldier becomes the first amputee to complete Jumpmaster Course
By SFC Jason B. Baker

FORT BRAGG, N.C. (USASOC News Service Feb. 6, 2008) – For most Soldiers when they join the Army there are a set of schools they set their eyes on as goals to complete. Schools like, Air Assault, Ranger and Pathfinder. For any airborne qualified non-commissioned officer the natural goal would be the Jumpmaster Course.

For one NCO achieving this goal faced more than just a minor set back; but Sgt. 1st Class John (Mike) Fairfax, Special Forces Intelligence NCO, Headquarters Support Company, 3rd Special Forces Group (Airborne), became the first amputee Soldier to successfully complete the Jumpmaster Course, Nov.15 and performed his first duty Dec. 3.

Link

[J Wolfsberger]

It doesn't fit the "poor soldier as victim" narrative.

[BayonetBrant]

Or more likely, very few civilians will have sufficient context to understand what the Jumpmaster course is all about, and why it's such a big deal for an amputee to succeed at it.

Again, I return to my overly-long post above... let's not automatically ascribe malice to someone where lack of perspective or understanding is more accurate.

[J Wolfsberger]

Or more likely, very few civilians will have sufficient context to understand what the Jumpmaster course is all about, and why it's such a big deal for an amputee to succeed at it.

Again, I return to my overly-long post above... let's not automatically ascribe malice to someone where lack of perspective or understanding is more accurate.

You, too, shall become a cynical old fart someday.

[ODB]

It doesn't play into woe is me crowd. I'm just glad finally it's published some where. 3 years ago I was on a scuba team, we were at the pool one morning where a guy was being blessed off to go back to a scuba team with one leg. He was being tested to see if he could still do it, guess what he passed. He is now at the SGM Academy......

Doesn't matter the context, any story can be told in way that the context is understood IMO.

[BobKing]

Several years ago Robert Kaplan spoke to a SOF class at the Army Command and General Staff College. I can't recall whether he uttered these exact words or not, but I left thinking he had explained how most of the media were "Journalists First, Americans Second." I know he made the point that much of the media see themselves as "citizens of the world."

His visit was shortly after writing "The Media and Medievalism"

In that article, he writes about the Marines fighting in Fallujah, and how they were forced, by the actions of the media, to call a cease-fire resulting in "snatching defeat from victory."

Specifically:

No matter how cleanly the Marines fought, it was not clean enough for the global media, famously including Al-Jazeera, which portrayed as indiscriminate killing what in previous eras of war would have constituted a low civilian casualty rate. The fact that mosques were blatantly used by insurgents as command posts for aggressive military operations mattered less to journalists than that some of these mosques were targeted by U.S. planes. Had the fighting continued, the political fallout from such coverage would have forced the newly emerging Iraqi authorities to resign en masse. So American officials had no choice but to undermine their own increasingly favorable battlefield position by consenting to a cease-fire. While U.S. policy was guilty of incoherence — ordering a full-scale assault only to call it off — the Marines were defeated less by the insurgents than by the way urban combat is covered by a global media that has embraced the cult of victimhood.

I would recommend also checking out Kaplan's "The Media and the Military"