Baghdad
OPERATION IRAQI FREEDOM saw the advent of a practice that has revolutionized modern war reporting: the embedding of journalists with frontline combat units. This practice gave the media, the American public, and the world, unprecedented access to the soldiers on the front lines, as well as to the war itself. “We were offered an irresistible opportunity: free transportation to the front line of the war, dramatic pictures, dramatic sounds, great quotes,” said Tom Gjelten of NPR. “Who can pass that up?”
While the military also benefited from having an eager outlet for its stories and successes, the biggest result of the embedding process was the shift it caused in the relationship between the military and the media–a shift that laid the groundwork for a fundamental change in the dynamics of war reporting. As Major General Buford Blount of the Army’s 3rd Infantry Division explained, “A level of trust developed between the soldier and the media that offered nearly unlimited access.”
