By Kelly Trettin
There’s no inherent right to embed,” said Colonel David Lapan, Director of the Department of Defense Press Office. We were discussing the ongoing war in Afghanistan. My pen sat poised over page for a moment. I was sitting in the back of a hotel conference room, taken slightly aback in the second Friday morning session at the SPJ National Convention in Indianapolis, titled “War Stories: America’s Coverage of the War in Afghanistan.”
I thought the Society for Professional Journalists was the most fervent supporter of journalists’ rights anyone could hope to find. Especially at Convention, I didn’t expect to hear that there were limits on how and where journalists could do their job—especially something as important as a war our nation is fighting in. Apparently, there are limits to everything.
A little background info: the war in Afghanistan has been dubbed the “Forgotten War,” due to the severe lack of coverage in American media. Canada and Europe do significantly more coverage, according to Peter ter Velde, television reporter with Dutch NOS News and speaker at the Convention. Iraq is the main focus of American media, especially when it comes to on-the-ground coverage, where at one time or another 700 journalists have been embedded. In Afghanistan right now, there are only about 37 embedded journalists. Total (that means American and other). Hence, the name.
Back to my surprise: how could there not be a right for the fourth estate to monitor what is happening in a place where our government has spent significant amounts of money and where more than 170 American lives have been lost this year alone? The session continued; questions were posed; explanations given. We, the watchdogs, may not like to hear this, but Col. Lapan has a point.
When a journalist embeds with military forces, there has to be a significant amount of trust, Col. Lapan explained. The commander of the troops has to trust that the journalist will not report on certain things that would compromise the safety of the group. The journalist trusts that he or she will be protected from danger as much as possible. War situations are stressful, to say the least. Things can get sticky.
But journalists who want to cover the war should not give up, especially since there is already so little coverage in Afghanistan. Col. Lapan pointed out the two biggest things journalists can do to avoid these sticky situations that will compromise their ability to embed with troops:
1) Never divulge information on your unit’s location. (You know, Geraldo Rivera-style).
2) Allow the military to notify the next-of-kin when a soldier has been killed before contacting the family yourself.
Sounds simple, yes? Things are not always this clear-cut, but there is a desperate need for coverage of this war. Col. Lapan informed us that the majority of journalists embedded right now are not working under a larger news organization; there are lots of freelancers and bloggers. This means the door is open for nearly everyone.
So, the conclusion I came to is that if we cannot consider embedding with troops a right, we must consider it a trade-off. If we, as Americans and journalists, want to continue to enjoy protections of the First Amendment, we must compromise with those who fight everyday to defend and protect this right. If this means that journalists must delay the release of certain information, and perhaps never release other information (such as location), so be it. Any story is better than no story at all and when it comes to the Forgotten War, we need all the information we can get.
