21 janeiro 2003

VITAMEDIAS
War journalists should not be cosying up to the military: It looks like a rerun of the 1991 Gulf War. Already American journalists are fighting like tigers to join "the pool", to be "embedded" in the US military so that they can see the war at first hand – and, of course, be censored. Eleven years ago, they turned up at Dhahran in Saudi Arabia, already kitted out with helmets, gas capes, chocolate rations and eyes that narrowed when they looked into the sun, just like General Montgomery. Half the reporters wanted to wear military costume and one young television man from the American mid-west turned up, I recall well, with a pair of camouflaged boots. Each boot was camouflaged with painted leaves. Those of us who had been in a desert -- even those who had only seen a picture of a desert – did wonder what this meant.
U.S. media in bed with military: War calls and many journalists are answering. Throughout the world, media organizations are planning their sojourns to Baghdad to be in place for the "big one." They are lining up at Iraqi missions asking for visas. Others are lobbying the U.S. military to give them a front row seat.
EUA Mudam Regras do Jogo para Cobertura da Guerra com o Iraque: Uma dúzia de anos depois da operação "Tempestade no Deserto", em que os repórteres foram mantidos o mais longe possível das frentes de guerra, os generais norte-americanos prometem reservar lugares suficientes nas unidades de combate para uma cobertura vivida pelos diferentes media, nacionais e estrangeiros, das peripécias bélicas de uma possível operação contra Saddam Hussein.