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1. Embedded Reporting:
The War Against Truth
Asathoma Sat Gamaya
Greetings from World Association for Christian Communication
Rev Dr Joshva Raja, WACC

3. ‘embedded reporters’ are those who were
on the ground in Iraq, moving with the
coalition forces seeing and reporting the
fighting at first hand. They ate and slept
alongside soldiers and brought live
reports of firelights and artillery
onslaughts into our living rooms - BBC.
EMBEDDED MEDIA OPERATE AS PART OF THEIR ASSIGNED
UNIT. AN ESCORT MAY BE ASSIGNED AT THE DISCRETION
OF THE UNIT COMMANDER. THE ABSENCE OF A PA
ESCORT IS NOT A REASON TO PRECLUDE MEDIA ACCESS
TO OPERATIONS – Pentagon Document.

4. 800
journalists
from selected
Western
media
agencies
With GENERAL
INSTRUCTIONS

5. Need for
Embedded Reporting
 Experience from Previous wars
-Victoria Torie Clarke
 Discrediting and demoralizing Saddam
Hussein’s forces
 Journalists’ protection
 No Censorship claims

6. Manipulating
the Truth
Misrepresentat
ion of the
‘Other’
Irresponsible
Freedom of
Expression
Issues in Embedded Reporting

7. From Truth to Untruth
 Truth should correspond to some external set of
facts or observations…Truth has become
increasingly tied to that which is written down,
to that which can be empirically verified, to that
which can be perceived by the human senses,
and to that which does not vary among people
or among cultures
Trust is the foundation of the BBC. We are
independent, impartial and honest. Audiences are
at the heart of everything we do. We respect each
other and celebrate our diversity so that everyone
can give their best

8. Telling lies within a timeframe
when you need such a lie to win
the war… and then apologize
 BBC Director of News Richard Sambrook
has admitted it is proving difficult for
correspondence in Iraq to distinguish the
truth from false reports, after a series of
media claims about the progress of coalition
forces tuned out to be premature.
CNN former Correspondent Bernard Shaw –I think journalists who
agree to go with combat units effectively become hostages of the
military, which can control the movements of the journalists and,
more importantly control their ability when they file the stories.

9. On March 22 the NBC reporter Kerry
Sanders stated that the Iraqi soldiers
were fleeing Basra. Later we learnt that
Basra was hardly under coalition
control.

10. Greg Mitchall[1], the editor of Editor and
Publisher magazine which covers the
newspaper industry, on March 27 identified 15
different stories in which the media got it wrong
or misreported a silver of fact into a major
event. Saddam might have been killed (March
20); even if he wasn’t killed, Iraqi command
and control was no doubt decapitated (March
22); Umm Qasr has been taken (March 22-24);
most Iraqi soldiers will not fight for Saddam and
instead are surrendering in droves (March 22)
and so on.
, p.8

11. 
One Man/woman’s entertainment becomes the
other man’s/woman’s suffering.
WE Versus THEM

12. 
“Embedding is a way
to kill the press with
kindness” says NYU
media studies
professor Mark Crispin
Miller, “ You absorb
reporters into the
advancing military
unit, and they are
psychologically
inclined to see
themselves as part of
the military operation.
They even dress like
soldiers”
[Alternet.Org].

13. Three Theses
 Huntington
– Clash of Civilizations
 Tariq Ali
– Clash of Fundamentalisms
 Edward Said
– Clash of Ignorance

14. Before the war, John R MacArthur
expressed doubts about the effectiveness
of embedded reporters to Editor. “The
Pentagon is expecting a kind of Panama-
Style war, over in three days. No body has
time to see or ask any questions. I think if
embedded reporters see anything
important or bloody, the Pentagon will
interfere. Same result, different tactic: the
truth gets distorted” says MacArthur.

15. Twelve journalist have died in the conflict so far.
“As we all feared, this conflict has become the
worst ever for our profession. Each and every day
journalists and media professionals are being
killed and injured at an alarming rate” said the
Chris Cramer, the president of CNN international
Networks. BBC war correspondent Martin Bell
warned saying, “I think it’s very worrying that
independent witnessing of war is becoming
increasingly dangerous and this may be the end
of it. I have a feeling that independent journalists
have become a target because the management
of the information war has become a higher
priority than ever”.

16. Patriotism
Business concerns
To be the first in reporting
Being identified with terrorism

17. Army Pfc.
Jessica
Lynch,
rescued
early
Wednesday
from an Iraqi
hospital
where she
was being
held prisoner
Impossible to make judgments
from seeing, hearing and reading
– credibility is questioned which
could affect the business of the
media industry

18. A possibility of a New Value Order in
the Media Practice?
1,Value education should be incorporated into
Journalistic courses
2.A Critical study of the reporting of the other should
be undertaken time to time as part of media
researches
3. During the time of crises and war, journalists,
editors and other media practitioners should play the
role of public intellectuals who try to speak about
peace and justice rather than turning them into an
entertainment.

19. 1. Alternative media would be best
solution to counter main stream
media
We would like to support any
initiative from anyone
2. A Study of the other in the media
would help media practitioners to
reduce the misrepresentations