24 fevereiro 2003

VITAMEDIAS
Danger: media at work: Five hundred journalists are due to join US troops. Their safety is paramount
There are a few cynics who think it is a short walk from "embedding" to "in bed with" and it would be a foolhardy news executive who simply rubs his hands with glee at the prospect of great action footage from the frontlines. There are so many other issues to overcome. Censorship. Balance. And, crucially, the dangers to which our journalists are potentially exposing themselves.
Hustling to the Front: Roughly 200 reporters recently participated in combat-training boot camps
For the first time since Vietnam, in fact, journalists will mingle with combat troops and support units to cover the action, some from the front lines. MTV, which used air time for videos like “Give Peace a Chance” during the Persian Gulf War in 1991, has 24-year-old Gideon Yago positioned in Kuwait. Since November the network has been airing daily news packages on Iraq, answering questions such as “Who is Saddam?” and gauging the mood of young GIs who are being sent to the Middle East. It seems as if the Pentagon is taking MTV’s war coverage seriously. It offered the network frontline access to action in Iraq, but MTV has so far declined.