(HOST) Are there increasing restrictions on US news media coverage of the war in Iraq? Commentator Bill Seamans thinks that there are.
(SEAMANS) This past weekend we paused yet again to honor those who have fallen in America’s wars. For some it was a heartrending personal experience—for too many others who are touched by the war only at the gas pump it was more of an extra day off. They are said to be in denial, a condition that war correspondents think exists because the public is being shielded from the reality of war. And it’s not because the war correspondents have not been trying under the most dangerous conditions. The Committee to Protect Journalists says one hundred forty-three news persons from various countries have been killed in Iraq and many others severely wounded, including ABC’s Bob Woodruff and Kimberly Dozier of CBS.
Denial or Reality is a growing debate focusing on how much the public should be shown and told about the true face of war in Iraq. Should photos and video of American dead and wounded be shown? If “yes”– what guidelines of restraint should be followed?
The New York Times this week tackled this very sensitive story with a report on government restrictions. Since last year a Defense Department Directive for journalists embedded with troops says, and I quote: “Names, video, identifiable written or oral descriptions or identifiable photographs of wounded service members will not be released without the service member’s PRIOR WRITTEN CONSENT!”—end of quote….
The Times noted that until last year, no permission was required to publish photos of the wounded after their families had been notified of the soldier’s injury. Now, not only is permission required, but any image of casualties that shows a recognizable face, name, or unit is off limits— and memorial services in Iraq for the fallen can no longer be shown even when their unit invites coverage. No helmet on the rifle scenes from Iraq.
But critics allege there is more to it than protecting service families from the surprise shock of seeing their dead or wounded loved ones pictured in the newspaper or on TV news before they had been notified by the Pentagon.
Photographer Ashley Gilbertson who has worked for the Times and has had seven tours in Iraq says: “They are not letting us cover the reality of the war– I think this has little to do with the families or the soldiers and everything to do with politics”…. CBS’s Kimberly Dozier says “The tough pictures, some pictures, need to get out—but choosing which ones is a very touchy matter.”
Thus we have a simmering controversy asking whether Pentagon censorship is for the benefit of our service families — or is it political cover for the Bush administration. As the Presidential campaign gets to the “no holds barred” stage — we may hear more about how our troops in combat should be covered by the news media.
Bill Seamans is a former correspondent and bureau chief for ABC News in the Middle East.