Press Releases

04/09/2010

Reporters discuss dangers, ethics of war coverage

JEFFREY McMURRAY
Associated Press Writer

LEXINGTON, Ky. (AP) — Reporters covering the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan should believe their own eyes a little more and their own government a little less, several prominent journalists said Friday.

Speakers at the University of Kentucky's conference on war, journalism and history argued the media need more independence in their reporting — even if that means fewer scoops from government officials looking to direct their coverage.

"There has been no serious questioning," said Robert Fisk, Middle East correspondent for The Independent newspaper of London. "We've become lobotomized by policymakers. Journalists have accepted the language of government."

Among the examples most cited during a panel discussion Friday was the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003.

John Walcott, Washington bureau chief for McClatchy, said many reporters bought into the idea that there was a major connection between Saddam Hussein's Iraqi government and al-Qaida terrorists after the 2001 attacks on New York and Washington.

Among the wrongly reported stories, Walcott said, was that an aviation facility in Iraq was being used to train would-be hijackers. In fact, he said, its aim was to detect hijackers and stop them.

"The story had been absolutely turned on its head for political purposes," Walcott said.

Tom Curley, AP's president and CEO, gave a lecture at the conference Thursday night. The conference continues Saturday with various speeches and discussions on the theme, Covering Conflicts in the Modern World.

Moderating Friday was Terry Anderson, a former Middle East correspondent for AP who spent seven years in captivity after being taken hostage by Shiite militants in Lebanon.

Anderson agreed that reporters sometimes rely too much on government sources, although he said often those sources can help improve the accuracy of a story before it goes to press. He said he occasionally did that with Ryan Clark Crocker, an ambassador he met in Beirut who also was on the panel.

"I'd call up every once in a while and say, 'Ryan, I'm to write this story,'" Anderson said. "He wouldn't give me info or tell me I'm wrong, but he'd say, 'I think you'd better think about that again.'"

John Daniszewski, international editor of the AP, defended the common practice of embedding reporters with troops, although he said other outside coverage should always supplement that reporting.

"Most mature journalist have the ability to separate that out and tell the story if they need to, even at the cost of suffering some disapproval from the troops they're with," Daniszewski said.

Aberrahim Foukara, Washington bureau chief of Al Jazeera International, said while journalists should have done more questioning leading up to the Bush administration's decision to go to war with Iraq, Democrats also should have spoken out against the majority party.

"Unless the opposition puts forth a position, the media will not necessarily reflect it," Foukara said. "I'm not saying the U.S. media are not to blame for 2003, but I think they only partially have the responsibility for the blame."

Crocker, representing public officials on the panel, also stressed the need for independence between the government and the press.

"You are the watchers, we are the watched," he said. "A very different role and sometimes an adversarial role, and that is exactly as it should be."