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Patriotism and the Press in Times of War
By Judah Grunstein
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30 Oct 2008
Speaking of Nir Rosen's Rolling Stone article, Bing West discusses some of the ethical and legal issues
it raises over at Small Wars Journal. West manages to present some very
thorny and potentially explosive issues passionately but not stridently
(quite a feat these days), keeping the piece both thoughtful and
thought-provoking. Mostly light, with just enough heat (and in the
right places) to make it resonate. I'm not quite sure I agree with his answers, but he's asking the right questions.
West addresses two aspects of Rosen's "embed" that had occurred to me
when I read the piece. First, that he was basically agreeing
to the possibility and even the likelihood of accompanying hostile forces as they conducted operations against American troops. Second, that he accepted the terms of
the embed, which depended on his guides being subject to a family-wide
death threat to secure his safety. The latter is, to my mind, a
clearcut ethical lapse. The former lies in what even West concedes is a
ethical-legal gray area.
I held off making those criticisms in my remarks at the time,
because I was unsure about what was driving the negative
reaction I had to the piece. As an armchair analyst, I felt reluctant
to engage in kneejerk criticism of what, despite the ethical gray
areas, remains an incredibly dangerous and gutsy field assignment. There's also
the question of what role the press plays in times of war, and whether it is, in fact,
above and beyond the ethical and legal issues that proscribe other
citizens.
I don't have any definitive answers. If you have any thoughts on the matter, feel free to weigh in via email.