[Media-watch] Embeds are back with the marines - Editor and Publisher - 5/11/2004

Julie-ann Davies jadavies2004 at yahoo.co.uk
Sat Nov 6 20:02:35 GMT 2004


 http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1000707275 The Embeds Are Back, as Deadly Assault on Fallujah LoomsBy Joe Strupp and Erin OlsonPublished: November 05, 2004NEW YORK The embeds are back. With a U.S. military assault on Iraqiinsurgents in Fallujah pending, there has been a surge in news organizationsseeking embedded slots with the Marine unit there, Pentagon officials toldE&P today.All 70 embed slots with the First Marine Expeditionary Force were filled twodays ago, according to Sgt. Eric Grill of the Press Information Center inBaghdad.That same Marine unit had only 15 embeds just one month ago. "It's filledup," Grill told E&P Friday. "There are no more slots."Embedded journalists in Iraq, which topped 800 at the height of the combatin 2003, have since dwindled to the double digits in the past year or so.But several newspapers said they had sought to return reporters andphotographers to the Marine unit outside Fallujah as the lik!
ely assaultlooms."That is the only way to do it," said Phil Bennett, foreign editor of TheWashington Post, which embedded reporter Jackie Spinner with the Marine unita week ago. "We also have permission to embed a photographer as well, and weare trying to do that."Bennett said Spinner had been assigned to Baghdad, but moved her location toprepare for the attack.The Boston Globe also added an embed, placing reporter Anne Barnard, who hadbeen Baghdad, with the Marines on Sunday. Her stories since have included apiece in Friday's paper about how medical forces are beefing up inpreparation for the attack, expecting high U.S. casualties in what could be,she wrote, "the bloodiest day" in the entire war.Roy Greene, a deputy foreign editor at the Globe, said Barnard had embedequipment with her that included a bullet-proof vest and helmet."It is dangerous because of mortar attacks and other things," he said. "Butwe thought we'd get a good opportunity for a real close-up view. If even!
tswarrant, we will consider adding more."Meanwhile, Tom Lasseter of Knight Ridder/Tribune, writing under the dateline"with U.S. Forces near Falluljah," also led his story with militaryhospitals' preparations. A senior surgeon said the number of dead andwounded will probably reach levels "not seen since Vietnam."Lasseter reported that one hospital has added two operating rooms anddoubled its supplies, preparing to treat 25 severely injured soldiers a day,not including the dead and those who can still walk. The article ended withcomment from one soldier that the fight for Fallujah is "overdue."The New York Times article today placed heavy emphasis on this eagerness oftroops. Reporter Robert F. Worth described the urban-warfare drills and thescene at the military base, where 29-year-old Lance Cpl. Dimitri Gavrielreported Marines are "locked, cocked and ready to rock."Newsday, in Long Island, N.Y., printed another hospital article by MatthewMcAllester, a staff correspondent. "Th!
ursday afternoon," he wrote, "whilereporters were visiting the hospital, the medical staff received anall-too-familiar delivery: Two Marines and an American freelancephotographer who had embedded with their unit had been injured, their lightarmored vehicle hit by a roadside bomb."McAllester said the hospital had set up triage tents and brought inadditional mortuary staff. "We've been living by the creed that if you buildit they will come," said Capt. Eric Lovell, an emergency medicinespecialist. According to McAllester, "Commanders here have told reportersthey expect casualties if the battle begins."A number of larger papers, including the Chicago Tribune and USA Today, ranAssociated Press stories or compiled stories from other wire services. Anarticle from "near Fallujah" by AP reporter Edward Harris reported that U.S.commanders, who expect a tough fight, are stressing that orders to attackmust come from Iraqi Prime Minister Ayad Allawi. Harris also interviewed anumber of t!
he troops and noted that many of them "privately owned up to anamount of trepidation."Harris ended with a comment on one reason for the soldiers' motivation,quoting 25-year-old Lance Cpl. Mike Detmer saying, "This is the mostimportant thing of my generation and I'm part of it. I can already see thepages in the history books."--------------------------------------------------------------------------------Joe Strupp and Erin Olson (jstrupp at editorandpublisher.com) are,respectively, a senior editor and reporter at E&P.



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