Military Reporters Group Supports Media's Coverage of Iraqi Abuse

[UpInArms]

http://199.249.170.220/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1000518143

NEW YORK Military Reporters and Editors -- the association of war correspondents and other military journalists -- is shooting back at those who have criticized newspapers for printing the Iraq prison abuse photos and other negative images of the Iraq War, claiming that such critiques are misguided and dangerous.

Their concerns followed the release of a new Fox News poll that reported 27% of respondents blamed the troubles in Iraq on the news media.

"Name-calling and finger-pointing isn't productive," said Dave Moniz, MRE president and a military writer for USA Today. "There is a difference between that and valid, constructive criticism."

Sig Christenson, MRE vice president and a veteran military reporter at the San Antonio (Texas) Express-News, agreed. "We are in real danger when people deny the truth," he said. "This is the same dynamic that went on in Nazi Germany."

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Christenson, who has spent a pair of three-month tours in Iraq since the war began, said those who blame the Post and other newspapers for publishing photos -- instead of questioning the military's actions in Iraq -- risk crippling the press's power at a time when the nation is polarized. "People are filtering this through their political views," said Christenson. "People ought to be thinking about what is the truth."

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"There is clearly a certain frenzy to this," said Tom Bowman, military affairs reporter at The Sun in Baltimore, about the prison abuse coverage. "For some, particularly Republicans, it takes on a political edge. They see it as a political story instead of a news story."

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