Today’s Good News: Heroes Of Iraq Journalism
The five-year anniversary of this tragically pointless war brings feelings of frustration, anger and hopelessness to many of us. Many in the media are rightly excoriated for their laziness and cowardice in war coverage. There are, however, many others who have done the right thing. Editor & Publisher (an excellent source of media analysis) cites a list of them from Tom Engelhart’s Tomdispatch.com.
Here’s a couple of highlights from Greg Mitchell’s story at tomdispatch.com. Check out the whole story here.
- Chris Hedges, former New York Times war reporter now with the Nation, who said of the invasion of Iraq in April 2003: “It reminds me of what happened to the Israelis after taking over Gaza, moving among hostile populations. It’s 1967, and we’ve just become Israel.”
- Mark Benjamin, formerly of UPI, now with Salon.com, who has doggedly covered the health care issues of American soldiers since 2003.
- Lee Pitts of the Chattanooga (TN) Times, who broke the story of the unarmored vehicles in Iraq.
- And my personal favorite, Stephen Colbert, whose address at the White House Correspondents Association said it all as only he can: “Let’s review the rules. Here’s how it works. The president makes decisions, he’s the decider. The press secretary announces those decisions, and you people of the press type those decisions down. Make, announce, type. Put them through a spell check and go home. Get to know your family again. Make love to your wife. Write that novel you got kicking around in your head. You know, the one about the intrepid Washington reporter with the courage to stand up to the administration. You know — fiction.”
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