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Peter Arnett
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The images seen and news reported on television matters. Those who control the flow of information control the minds of the public. This has become acutely apparent as the war in Iraq moves into its third week. Just ask former NBC and National Geographic correspondent Peter Arnett. The Pulitzer Prize award-winning journalist was unceremoniously terminated by NBC after he granted an interview to Iraqi television in which he simply made some honest and frank analytical comments about U.S. miscalculations in the war.
But in the realm of the information war surrounding the current crisis, Arnett's comments were spun by certain media personalities and other critics to appear unpatriotic and anti-American.
By terminating Arnett, NBC sent a clear message that truth is indeed the first casualty of war. For most Americans, the truth about the war in Iraq is most assuredly being obscured. Although there has been wall-to-wall, 24-hour coverage of the conflict, much of that information has been filtered and shaped by the type reporting that is being done in Iraq.
Most of the major television news media continue to rely upon so-called embedded journalists, or embeds, who travel with military units. In exchange for this frontline privilege, journalists are censored and forced to follow strict operating procedures that prohibit the actual free flow of information. As a result, the American public receives visually stunning images of the war along with certain engaging and heartrending stories of courage and combat; but this information has been crafted and filtered by the U.S. military to provide the public with as positive an image of the United States as possible.
The truth does slip out of Iraq from time to time, however. Occupying all but two columns above the fold of the April 3, 2003 edition of the Arab News was a picture of Luis Castro and Victor Silva. The two men are journalists with Portugal’s RTP television. Unlike many of their American counterparts, they were in Iraq as independent journalist, not embedded with any military forces. The price they paid for their independence was quite high, however.
Silva and Castro entered Iraq close the beginning of the conflict carrying the requisite Unilateral Journalist credentials that are issued by the military coalition at Central Command. They proceeded to both Basra and Umm Qasr where they reported for RTP. However, when they moved northward to the city of Najaf, they were arrested by U.S. military police. Castro told the Arab News that when he objected to being detained, he was pushed to the ground and kicked in the ribs. The two were then held for four days and then were escorted out of the country by members of the U.S. 101st Airborne Division.
Speaking to the Arab News, Castro was frank in his assessment of why he was detained. “I believe the reason we were detained was because we are not embedded with the U.S. forces,” said Castro. “Embedded journalists are always escorted by military minders. What they write is controlled and, thought them, the military feeds its own version of the facts to the world. When independent journalists such as us come around, we pose a threat because they cannot control what we write.”
Thankfully, Castro has not been deterred by his ordeal and intends to reenter Iraq as soon as possible to “tell the truth to the world about what is happening there.”
Arnett will also get a reprieve as he has been retained by both Greek and Dutch television as well as London¹s Daily Mirror tabloid to continue his work in Iraq.
Most Americans will not, however, have Arnett’s and Castro’s reporting available to them, as the fog of the media war will continue to cloud perceptions in the United States.
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