“Whether to embed with any armed force is a decision involving trade-offs. A primary advantage of embedding is that a journalist will get a firsthand, front-line view of armed forces in action. But there are also disadvantages. An embedded journalist is only able to cover that single part of the story…”
-from “On Assignment: A Guide to Reporting in Dangerous Situations”

I’ve been thinking a lot about the pitfalls and the possibilities of embedding as a reporter with the military. The practice isn’t new.  According to the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists, British and American reporters have been doing it since the 19th century.  In the two World Wars, they had to submit their work to military censors.  The Vietnam War was a turning point, offering journalists an up-close, uncensored opportunity to cover American forces.  Perhaps because of the Vietnam experience, the military (here and elsewhere) sought to keep journalists away from the fighting in many subsequent conflicts. 

But hundreds of reporters embedded with British and American forces in the weeks following the Iraq invasion. The fact that so much of the war was covered by embedded journalists sparked a debate over the merits of the practice.  Questions were raised about the objectivity of reporters who worked, slept and ate alongside the soldiers they were covering – not to mention that reporters depended on the troops for protection.  Journalists like Seymour Hersh condemned embedding, claiming it amounted to government control of the media.  As Hersh put it, “You’re basically giving up your right to be a discriminating viewer of the whole picture.”

There’s an interesting series called Embedistan running in The New York Times, which points out the limits and the advantages of embedding. In one recent entry, Times Baghdad Bureau Chief Steven Lee Myers writes, “The problem with embedding, if any, belongs to reporters, those who lose their objectivity and cheer, those who accept what the military says without a necessary dose of skepticism, those who presume what they write is the all-encompassing truth and not just one slice of it.”

There’s the rub:  To realize what can and can't be accomplished during an embed; to be mindful that your view of the war is limited to what’s in front of you, as is the perspective of the soldiers you’re talking to.  

I think within those limits there are opportunities to tell good, straightforward stories that will give a clear sense of the realities of serving in the Vermont Guard in Afghanistan and put VPR listeners more in touch with what the soldiers are experiencing day-to-day during their year-long deployment.

I welcome your thoughts and suggestions at ReportFromAfghanistan@gmail.com

Steve Zind

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