The "Weaponization of Reporters"

Journalists and generals met in Chicago last week to discuss the media's role in reporting on the war in Iraq and agreed that the Pentagon's strategy of "embedding" journalists marked a sea change in combat reporting. "We brought the military service members into the homes of Americans, and they became spokespersons for the U.S. military," said an army chief of public affairs. But journalists like CNN's Walt Rogers criticized the Pentagon's use of the press in Iraq as "the weaponization of reporters." Many reporters expressed dismay that disturbing images of war did not make it onto the air. "If we show any U.S. casualties," said a broadcast network correspondent, "the Pentagon goes berserk, because they think about the families first. But if we had shown them, it would have had a profound impact on public attitudes toward the war."