Journalists Assigned to Accompany U.S. Troops

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“Journalists Are Assigned to Accompany U.S. Troops”
I found an article on the New York Times website today that I thought had something to do with what we have been talking about. Before our Huntington’s presentations we talked about how we thought the news showing the Gulf War on television may have been part of the reason that some of the other Muslim countries who originally sided with us eventually became neutral and the U.S. feared if the war went on much longer they would eventually go against us. Well today I read an article that explains the role of journalism in the war that is coming up.
According to Ralph Blumenthal and Jim Rutenberg there will be at least 500 journalists, photographers and television crew members including at least 100 foreign news organizations in Iraq this time around including Al Jazeera, the Arab network. (pg. 1) The United States government has trained 232 journalists for combat conditions in Iraq. Because of the “sense of urgency” being created by our government they probably will not have time to train the rest who will go. The journalists who do go will not be allowed to carry or fire weapons like they did in Vietnam. (pg.2) They will not be issued military uniforms like they were in the past and they will have to provide themselves with helmets and fatigues. They will be given access to the “NBC” gear which is used to protect from nuclear, biological, and chemical attacks and will have access to places to sleep and rations although they probably won’t like either of them. (pg 2) The first time we went into Iraq there was only one satellite phone which if anyone remembers ran live on CNN almost all day. This time there is already between 2 and 3 hundred of them.
Because of the technology and the hands on viewing of the war by journalists officials in the pentagon have had to make laws on what can and can’t be shown on television. Any news which different television networks w...