Embedded Journalism and War Reporting Dion E Jones University of Phoenix COMM 220 Maureen, Duffy M.A. May 13, 2012 Embedded Journalism and War Reporting Journalism covers the principles of reporting in different circumstances such as the time-based news as in press conferences or untimely news of crisis, disasters and conflicts. Even though the reporting objectives are vast, and the journalists are expected to perform their duties without any fear or bias, it is the responsibility of the journalists to observe certain ethical considerations. At times, what journalists consider their responsibility may prove to be harmful for others. The policy of embedded journalism is debated mainly because, it compromises the military’s safety, security and strategy, through its bias and unethical reports; the presence of embedded journalists should not be allowed alongside fighting forces. Ethics of Journalism and War Reporting The question whether something is ethical or not, is gaining worldwide scrutiny these days. With the advent of social media, people have access to so much detail regarding the circumstances of the world. The journalists who are active through social media seem to provide all the minor details to their followers notwithstanding the ethical aspect of such information. The line between what is professional journalism and what is not is getting thinner every day with unnecessary reports being presented to the media consumers. Journalists seem to forget the ethical aspects of journalism when they report about someone’s personal issue. There are many websites, which provides real time news, and most of those are run by credible organizations with genuine news sources. However, there are certain websites that wrongly use the freedom provided by the Internet and they violate the ethical standards associated with the profession of journalism. The main role of a journalist is to provide the facts and to help build new knowledge through imparting new information. However, there have been certain instances where misreporting has been done due to lack of credible news sources. This has often been observed in the case of war reporting. Due to lack of time and rigid deadlines, journalists usually rely on information provided by the authorities with access to the war zone, and in such circumstances, whether the information is accurate cannot be completely assessed. There are many ethical considerations related to war reporting, as even the minor misreporting may create dangerous circumstances. The dilemma associated with this situation is that, if journalists are embedded with the fighting forces, they may give out more information that what is necessary and in such circumstances, violation of ethical considerations may result in harmful circumstances for both the journalists and the fighting forces. One of the most important ethical considerations to take into account while reporting the incidents of war is reporting which is free from any sort of bias. It has been observed that the journalists impart information, which is clearly biased. The true facts are kept from the media consumers, and they are provided a modified picture of the scenario. This is one of the most violated ethical considerations related to war reporting. Such reporting of modified facts can also worsen the situation of war because the opposing forces may be enraged by such acts of the journalists and any chances of compromise will be dimmed. In such a scenario, the integrity of the profession of journalism comes into question. Any acts of bias by the journalists may adversely affect the profession of journalism. Therefore, the question of ethical considerations takes a very serious turn with regard to war reporting. Journalists need to be sure that the information being imparted is precise and accurate and it does not disclose any confidential information. Journalists must also ensure that the sources from which the information is being collected are credible and the risk of misreporting is acceptably low. Debate on War Journalism The extent of war journalism is still contentiously debated, and mostly due to the same reasons as previously mentioned, i.e. Safety, Security and Strategic disclosure. International journalism has comprehensively dealt with the coverage of war and this is because of the dramatic nature of conflicts. The trend of sensational reporting has been observed to be on rise in the recent past and this practice compromises on the professionalism of journalism. As mentioned already, the main objective of journalists is to impart the true and necessary facts to the media consumers; however, the recent wave of sensationalism and commercialism has diverted professional journalism in a completely new direction. Stories which are considered to attract audience attention and viewership are considered to be worthy of reporting and other essential stories are left behind. However, one of the positive aspects of embedded journalism is that it helps the journalists present a realistic view of the occurrences of the war zone. According to Berens (2003), “Embedding journalist with military units became official U.S. policy, and it did give reporters firsthand access to the war”. “One of the biggest violations of ethical considerations is the reporting of incomplete story in order to seize the excitement in the story. As a result, the whole context of the story is not imparted to the media consumers and individuals are compelled to form their opinion merely based on the incomplete information imparted to them by the journalists. Such cases are mostly observed in war reporting as the journalists attempt to filter the overall context of the story and modify it in such a manner that it appeals to the media consumers” (Ibrahim et al, 2011). However, the positive aspect of embedded journalism is that the occurrences of incidents are reported to the audience directly from the war zone; therefore, it adds some semblance of credibility of the information. In other cases, journalists spill out more information than necessary in war reporting. While filtering the information to be imparted, sometimes some crucial details that are not meant to be made public are given out, again, in order to create sensationalism. This is once again a violation of the ethical consideration of the profession. Therefore, it is a heavily debated topic whether the extent of war reporting should be controlled. Commercialism and globalization have influenced a number of professions including journalism, but the dangers associated with this impact on the profession are worse than in any other profession. The imparting of incomplete information or more than necessary information can make the conflicts even worse. On the contrary, some would argue that imparting of the full facts is encouraged by the audience. According to the users of the information, people have the right to be given complete facts, therefore, the imparting of complete information is considered to be good from the perspective of the users of the information. In the case of embedded journalists, journalists have live and direct access to the war, but the reporting is still not accurate. One of the biggest flaws of embedded journalism is that it provides a deep regarding only one specific part of the war, but it does not provide the whole picture. The embedded journalists have access to firsthand account of the war that is going on around them but war is not limited to a single geographic location. Embedded journalists provide the story of the war that they come across but this may be a distorted view of the war as a whole. Therefore, it can be inferred that war reporting is still a debated topic and there are a number of flaws that need to be controlled. It should be ensured that the reporting is accurate and only the information that is necessary is being imparted to the media consumers. Dangers of Embedded Journalism There are a number of dangers associated with embedded journalism. This phenomenon has been on rise in the recent past in the media and journalists are being sent into the war zones to cover war; however, the drawbacks of embedded journalism have also been observed (Dodson, 2010). Following are some of the drawbacks associated with embedded journalism. Limited Observation According to Ignatius (2010) from Washington Post, journalists are observing wars from only one perspective, and they are not seeing them whole. When embedded journalists are sent alongside the fighting forces, they are not ordinary journalists who ask questions from all sides, but they are on the side of the country they have come with. The problem is apparently simple; we cannot understand what we cannot see therefore a situation of conflict cannot be explained completely when only one side is heard. Therefore, embedded journalists do not provide a fair picture of the war but they only provide one-sided view, which can be categorized as biased (The Independent, 2010). Therefore, embedded journalists are provided with limited observation in the war zones. Risk of Disclosure of Confidential Information “The reporting of a one sided view is not the only major drawback of embedded journalism, there is a high risk of unintentional disclosure of confidential information that may prove to be detrimental to the war strategies” (Berens, 2003). Embedded journalists may gain access to confidential information either formally or informally. Formally, embedded journalists are usually briefed about the strategic advancement of the troops because the journalists move with the troops. Therefore, the embedded journalists gain information regarding the next location of the fighting forces beforehand. Informally, embedded journalists may acquire confidential information while having a conversation with anyone from the troops such as on the plane or in the bus. Therefore, in any case, even an unintentional disclosure of such important information may cause a failure of the war strategies determined by the fighting forces. Risk of Disclosure of Location While reporting directly from the war zone, journalists may give out certain details regarding the current location of the fighting troops and this may create harmful situations for the troops. For example, when a journalist reports from the war zone, there are certain elements in the background that may be identified by the opposite fighting forces and this may give an idea regarding the current location of the fighting forces (Workneh, 2011). This may give an advantage to the opposing forces over the fighting forces. View of Conflict from Military Perspective Embedded journalism provides the journalists with a chance to look at the conflict in military terms only and in such a situation; the political nature of the conflict is left behind. What journalists see is a limited view of the overall conflict. There is always a political conflict that is the foundation of war, but amidst all the war reporting directly from the war zone while in presence of only the military officials, the journalists cannot present a view of the political nature of the conflict. A change in the strategy of the military official may be of a political nature but the embedded journalists would not be able to see it that way. The embedded journalists are too focused on the military aspects of the war to notice the underlying political moves. Therefore, embedded journalists do not present the political perspective of the war. Conclusion There are a number of ethical considerations associated with the profession of journalism. Journalists are assigned with the responsibility of imparting a true and fair picture of the events that occurs all around the world. These days, the ethical considerations and responsibilities are being violated for commercialism and sensationalism. In numerous cases, biased and limited views are presented to the media consumers in order to make the news more exciting rather than imparting the true story. As in the case with war reporting, embedded Journalism provides the journalists a chance to take a firsthand account of the events that take place during the war, but there are a number of limitations in embedded journalism that keep the journalists from knowing the whole picture. Thus, the information provided to the media consumers is biased and limited, and certainly does not warrant the unnecessary risks to our service members. In addition, the embedded journalists observe their own surroundings, they can only give an account from the perspective of the fighting forces with whom they are embedded; they do not have the perspective of the opposing forces. Along with that, embedded journalism can prove to be dangerous for the fighting forces as journalists may inadvertently disclose certain geographical locations, information that may prove to be detrimental to military strategies, and beneficial to the adversaries. Furthermore, embedded journalism does not offer any benefit in regards to military strategy, but certainly, jeopardizes the safety and the operational security of the fighting forces. So therefore, it can be concluded that journalists should not be embedded alongside fighting forces.

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