The Daily Background
| Former journalist embed slams Pentagon program
by Arlen Parsa
Longtime readers may remember that I’ve bashed the military journalist “embed” program before, saying it led to propaganda stories, was biased towards the conservative publications, and kicked people out unfairly (say, for taking photographs of Humvees without adequate armor for instance, as two photographers were kicked out for a few months ago).
Well, I just read an article written by freelance journalist David Axe, five-time embed (who has written for Salon, The Washington Times, Village Voice Popular Science, etc etc etc), who has offered his thoughts on embedded journalism, after being kicked out for a ridiculous reason:
Embedding means serious limitations. Routinely, you only see what U.S. forces see: the insides of armored vehicles, the passing faces of frightened and angry Iraqi, and the muddy landscapes of walled bases, mostly. And embedding means working within the rubric of the military public affairs operation — hardly the most sophisticated or democratic undertaking, and one that encourages self-censorship in addition to coming down hard on journalists who offend its sensibilities.
Read his full story here, to find out why he was unfairly kicked out. Oh- and he has a lot more thoughts on the embed system as well, in addition to his thoughts on what it’s like to be a journalist in Iraq (what with recent events involving kidnappings, and slayings). You might guess, he’s not exactly behind this war 100%. Maybe that has something to do with it. Just mayyyybe. Highly recommended read.
