[Media-watch] Denver Post denied access to US military after story and court injunction - Denver Post - 9/12/2004

[Julie-ann Davies]

http://www.denverpost.com/Stories/0,1413,36~53~2585336,00.html

 Article Published: Thursday, December 09, 2004

Fort Carson halts access for The Post

The base is refusing to give the paper information because of a Sunday 
front-page article on military medical holds.

By Eileen Kelley
Special to The Denver Post





Fort Carson -The Army is denying The Denver Post access to Fort Carson and 
to information on military activities in the wake of a Sunday article in The 
Post on military medical holds.

"We have temporarily suspended relations with The Denver Post as a direct 
result of Fort Carson not being given fair and balanced treatment in a story 
that appeared on Dec. 5, 2004," Lt. Col. David Johnson, the chief public 
affairs officer at the base, said Wednesday evening.

The front-page article examined claims from mentally and physically ill 
National Guard and Army Reserve members who say they are being denied access 
to quality care and are being shoved out of the military without disability 
pay. Congress has been scrutinizing medical holds at bases across the 
country.

 "All of those involved with the med-hold piece which ran yesterday are 
extremely disappointed with the outcome," Kim Tisor, a Fort Carson public 
affairs officer, wrote in a letter to reporters Monday. "Perhaps we would 
have been better off not commenting - it certainly would have saved us a lot 
of time."

Denver Post Editor Greg Moore said the base's public affairs staff was 
misguided in their actions.

"They are singling us out simply because they didn't like our story," he 
said. "Other newspapers and media organizations have reported on the issue. 
Our story was thorough, and balanced the concerns of soldiers with 
substantial response from the military, including from some officers who 
acknowledged problems with the program.

"It's our job to investigate issues like these and explain them to our 
readers, many of whom have family members serving in the military," Moore 
added. "We hope Fort Carson officials reconsider their ban of The Denver 
Post. If they don't, we will appeal to senior military officers at Fort 
Carson and in Washington, and through any other legal or congressional 
channels that are available to us."

Any commander has the authority to control access to his installation or 
unit, but a specific news organization can be banned from a base only in 
accordance with an Army regulation that provides for due process, according 
to a senior Army official who asked not to be named for fear of retribution.

Johnson said the paper has been dropped from an e-mail list that distributes 
invitations to cover events and official statements.

A Post reporter was told Tuesday she could not attend a formal deployment 
ceremony Wednesday even though other media members were invited.

Johnson said the lack of access is not an official ban, but he later said 
that all Denver Post reporters and editors were - for the time being - no 
longer welcome at Fort Carson.

Also last week, The Denver Post obtained an injunction to stop an 
investigative hearing that had been closed to the public for three Fort 
Carson soldiers charged with murdering an Iraqi general.