Stars and Stripes, a military newspaper, accuses U.S. military of censorship in Iraq

[Better Believe It]

Stars and Stripes accuses U.S. military of censorship in Iraq
CNN
June 23, 2009

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Stars and Stripes, the newspaper that receives U.S. military funding to help it cover and get distributed free to American forces in war zones, complained Tuesday of censorship by military authorities in Iraq.

In a story on its Web site, the newspaper known as Stripes said the military violated a congressional mandate of editorial independence by rejecting a request to embed reporter Heath Druzin with the U.S. Army's 1st Cavalry Division, which is attempting to secure the city of Mosul.

The military cited various problems in Druzin's reporting on previous embed assignments with units of the division, according to the story.

One example noted by the military was a March 8 story that said many Mosul residents would like the American soldiers to leave and hand over security tasks to Iraqi forces, the Stripes Web site said.

"U.S. Army units in Iraq remain committed to the media embed program and appreciate objective media reporting," said Lt. Col. David H. Patterson Jr., a spokesman for Multi-National Corps-Iraq. "The relationship that Druzin established with the command during a previous embed did not facilitate being invited back."

Terry Leonard, editorial director at Stars and Stripes, denied the Army's allegations, calling Druzin's previous reporting on the division accurate and fair.

"To simply say 'you can't send him because we didn't like what he wrote' is unacceptable," Leonard said. He noted that Congress set up Stripes as an independent newspaper so that "no commander can decide what news troops in the field receive."

Please read the complete article at:

http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/06/23/us.iraq.newspaper.censorship/index.html

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Army bars Stars and Stripes reporter from covering 1st Cav unit in Mosul
Stars and Stripes
Mideast edition, Wednesday, June 24, 2009

Asserting that Stars and Stripes “refused to highlight” good news in Iraq that the U.S. military wanted to emphasize, Army officials have barred a Stripes reporter from embedding with a unit of the 1st Cavalry Division that is attempting to secure the violent city of Mosul.

Terry Leonard, editorial director of Stars and Stripes, said Druzin’s reporting in Mosul had been consistently accurate and fair and he denied all of the Army’s allegations. Leonard noted, for example, that reporters are not required to answer a commander’s questions about their plans for future stories.

He said the newspaper had spent more than three weeks appealing Druzin’s banishment to senior commanders in Iraq as well as public affairs officials at the Pentagon, but had been repeatedly rebuffed

“To deny Mr. Druzin an embed under the reasons stated by Maj. Bellard is a direct challenge to the editorial independence of this newspaper,” Leonard wrote in his appeal. “That independence is mandated by Congress. The denial of the embed constitutes an attempt at censorship and it is also an illegal prior restraint under federal law. … The military cannot tell us what stories to write or not write.”

Leonard also noted that, although Stars and Stripes receives some federal funding through the Defense Department to offset the extraordinary costs of distributing the newspaper to U.S. troops in war zones, the newspaper’s reporting is not subject to Pentagon authority.

The Army’s denial of Druzin’s embed request appears to violate the Pentagon’s established ground rules regarding embedded reporters, which state: “These ground rules recognize the inherent right of the media to cover combat operations and are in no way intended to prevent release of embarrassing, negative or derogatory information.”

Leonard said the newspaper would not tolerate the Army’s attempts to control it.

Please read the complete article at:

http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=63426
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Media watchdogs blast Army's embed ban
By Leo Shane III, Stars and Stripes
Mideast edition, Thursday, June 25, 2009

WASHINGTON — The Army’s decision to bar a Stars and Stripes reporter from embedding with a unit in Iraq because he “refused to highlight” good news drew a harsh rebuke from media watchdogs, who said the action compromises the integrity of the media embed program.

“If they put these kind of conditions on it, then I’d say the whole program will collapse,” said Kelly McBride, Ethics Group Leader at the Poynter Institute, a media training facility and think tank in St. Petersburg, Fla. “It’s not meant to be a public relations program for the military.”

“The Army doesn’t have the right to decide what kind of coverage they want--not if they are dedicated to the freedoms outlined in the Constitution.” he said.

On Tuesday, military correspondent Thomas Ricks blasted the Army’s handling of Druzin’s embed on his ForeignPolicy.com blog, calling it a foolish move for public affairs officials to pick and choose which reporters they want to work with.

“ move is especially bad because Stars & Stripes lately has been covering the Iraq war outside Baghdad almost solo,” he added.

Article is at:

http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=63443