COIN & The Media (catch all)

[Ron Humphrey]

The article reports on a journalist/editor/CEO expressing his personal views to an audience of fellow journalists/students where it would be fully appropriate for him to express his personal opinions. I didn't find anything in it that was especially objectionable—I find the references to al-Qa'ida a bit too silly and rhetorical for my tastes, but people tend to get rhetorical when delivering rhetoric.

When journalists stop advocating for first amendment rights/freedom of speech/etc is when one really needs to worry. If people find it odd that journalists think they should be free to to their jobs, then there is even mutual misunderstanding than I first thought!

This part somewhat confounds me

said the news industry must immediately negotiate a new set of rules for covering war because "we are the only force out there to keep the government in check and to hold it accountable."

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


Exactly how should organizations such as the military who spend probably a good 30+% of their resources ensuring they keep themselves in check recieve such statements as this. Especially from those who help run organizations who not only in perception but in known highly visible reality tend to spend 85% of their time and efforts looking for whats wrong with others yet should anything be askance on their homefront will quickly turn all 100% toward CYA rather than owning up to it.

If people find it odd that journalists think they should be free to to their jobs, then there is even mutual misunderstanding than I first thought!

Perhaps theres something there

maybe definition of what exactly their job is??

[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.

[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...

[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... )