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Stackpole Books, Mechanicsburg, PA, 2008 ISBN 9780811704021, 226 pp. $24.95 (Member $22.45) When Charles "Chip" Jones began researching a book to follow his award-winning Boys of '67 (Stackpole Books, 2006), the former Richmond Times-Dispatch staff writer decided to explore the dynamic tension shared between civilian combat correspondents and the military they covered.
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Fair and Balanced or Yellow Journalism RED, WHITE, or YELLOW?: The Media & the Military at War in Iraq. By Charles Jones. Stackpole Books, Mechanicsburg, PA, 2008 ISBN 9780811704021, 226 pp. $24.95 (Member $22.45)
When Charles "Chip" Jones began researching a book to follow his award-winning Boys of '67 (Stackpole Books, 2006), the former Richmond Times-Dispatch staff writer decided to explore the dynamic tension shared between civilian combat correspondents and the military they covered. He soon found that it would require more than research. He would have to immerse himself in his subject. The result is a multifaceted view through a prism made up of Jones' research; interviews with combat correspondents, public affairs officers, and generals; and his personal observations.
"Initially, I explored the subject from a safe distance," Jones explains in his introduction. He interviewed The Washington Post's Rick Atkinson, Cable News Networks (CNN's) Jamie Mclntyre, and Public Broadcasting Service's News Hour host, Jim Lehrer. "However, I realized that only by venturing into Iraq would I get any sense of the actual situation on the ground."
In Iraq Jones wrestled with the ethical issues driven by an era of 24/7 media, the public's right to know what its military is doing, which at times conflicts with an individual's right to privacy. He cites Rick Atkinson's declaration after the 2003 invasion that "every soldier's death is a public event," contrasted by then-Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld's edict denying photographs of returning flag-draped coffins and the Pentagon's rules dictating that no photos may be released of the wounded without their written permission - even if they have already died. "These were tough questions for tough people inside and outside the media," Jones points out, "with no simple answers or clear-cut decisions."
The dichotomy of a military at war overseas while the public peacefully pursues inane interests at home struck Jones in Camp Fallujah's mess hall. "It didn't matter whether it was Fox News or CNN," Jones writes, ". . . the headline story in June 2007 was still the same: Paris Hilton."
Jones witnessed the launch of the "surge," with MajGen Walter E. Gaskin, Commanding General, II Marine Expeditionary Force, and his deputy, BGen John S. Allen, facilitating his access and providing insights into the evolution within Al Anbar Province where the model for the surge initiative first bore fruit. The message that turned around the Anbar sheiks and other key leaders, according to Gaskin, was getting across to them that foreign fighters were responsible for killing their kids and ruining their cities. More importantly, the Americans backed their words with action. Gaskin told Jones that training Anbar's citizens to defend themselves avoided a repeat of the carnage in which their friends and families were killed, their businesses were sacked, and their towns and cities were left desolate and in shambles. Gaskin explained to Jones that these advances were being ignored by the mainstream media, preferring instead to churn out "the vapid saga of Paris Hilton getting in or out of jail."
Throughout his narrative Jones beefs up his personal observations with those of other journalists. In one of these he cites American Broadcasting Company correspondent Martha Raddatz's comments, which echoed Gaskin's observations, in a Washington Post interview in late 2007. She said that Americans are not connected to this war, pointing out that the only people paying the price are servicemembers and their families. "That's why I feel so strongly about telling their stories," said Raddatz. Jones questions rhetorically whether this disconnect is a failure of the Bush administration to sell the importance of the war or is the media's fault for backing away from the biggest story of the day.
The title, Red, White or Yellow?, evolved from Jones' perception of the heroic efforts being made by America's military while U.S. citizens remain relatively uninvolved - choosing to continue shopping at the mall while the media distracts them with frivolous "infotainment" packaged as "news." In contrast, Rupert Murdock's "Red, White and Blue" Fox Network appeared to some as reviving the earlier "yellow journalism" standards exhibited by publisher William Randolph Hearst's rabid promotion of the Spanish-American War in Cuba.
In contrast Jones lauds the efforts of military public affairs officers and enlisted personnel as they struggle to find the right balance between fully informing the American public while "not serving as dupes for enemy propagandists." Jones writes:
It's instructive to consider the four rules that [Maj Jeff] Pool shared with me one night at Camp Fallujah. 1 . Tell the truth. 2. Don't be the enemy's public affairs officer. 3. Don't get anyone killed or fired. 4. No RR. stunts.
Honesty is the underlying premise of these rules.
Still, the dynamic tension remains between the military and the media when you address the age-old question: what is truth?
Jones captures that dilemma in a dramatic recounting of TAe New York Times reporter Damien Cave's poignantly written and film accounts of the death of 27-year-old Army SSG Hector Leija of Houston, TX. Cave and Leija met on Leija's second deployment and Cave's second assignment as an embedded journalist with 3d Stryker Brigade. The two bonded, and Cave decided that he would follow the quiet-spoken Leija and do a profile about him. Cave was joined by Times combat-tested contract photographer Bob Nickelsberg. Cave scribbled notes and shot video with his Sony camera as Nickelsberg snapped photos with the two Canon cameras he hung around his neck. Cave's first story on 25 January stated that enemy snipers "killed at least one American soldier, with a shot to the head." The soldier wasn't named because next of kin had not been notified. The soldier was SSG Hector Leija.
Cave and Nickelsberg worked for several days to put together a more comprehensive story, one which they had witnessed. It involved the heroism of the men who pulled Leija to safety and worked to save his life. There were photos of individual bravery as one solther retrieved Leija's battledress and raced to safety, tracking Leija's blood from the kitchen where Leija was hit into the adjacent room as Leija's blood flowed out of his helmet. The story chronicled the unit's shock at losing their highly respected leader.
And then there was that photo of Leija lying on a stretcher as medics evacuated him - a stretcher-bearer with his gloved hand on Leija's forehead, apparently trying to comfort him as he tended the wound. Nickelsberg saw the photos as symbolizing "American blood on foreign soil ... a symbol of something gone wrong - as is often the case with bullets flying around."
The battalion commander e-mailed the two that he was unhappy with the package as presented in the Times. Shortly after, the two were informed that they were disembedded. The reason given was that Leija's photo of him on the stretcher was taken without his consent. But that was not the end. Leija's family also was unhappy with the photos and the story. But, more importantly, larger questions remained. How do you document momentous historical events without being hindered by privacy and sensitivity issues?
Jones doesn't offer solutions to these conundrums. His nonlinear organization at times challenges the reader's ability to follow where the author is taking him. Yet the overall contribution Jones makes is a broad brush of the modern dynamics reporters and warriors must address in an age where technology overcomes barriers to access and new media demands a voracious amount of content.
Military public affairs, information operations, and psychological operations professionals should mine this treasure trove of scenarios that Jones has supplied. This book offers insights to the challenges ahead as we embrace strategic communications in the broadest sense to defeat enemy propaganda by being as transparent as possible and ensuring that we walk the walk the way we talk the talk - and vice versa.
reviewed by Maj Robert T. Jordan, USMC(Ret)
Maj Jordan is a retired public affairs officer who is currently an instructor in leadership at the Defense Information School.
Copyright Marine Corps Association Dec 2008