http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,224217,00.html

Republican Lawmaker Wants CNN Reporters Punished for Airing Sniper Video

Monday , October 23, 2006

WASHINGTON — A leading Republican lawmaker on defense issues has asked the Pentagon to bar CNN reporters from traveling with military units in Iraq because the network showed insurgent snipers shooting at U.S. troops.

"Does CNN want America to win this thing?" Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Calif., asked in an interview Monday on the network. In past wars, he said, the press was more pro-American.

"You can't be on both sides of the war," Hunter said.

CNN issued a statement saying the decision to air the insurgents' video was "a difficult one, but for a news organization, the right one. Our responsibility is to report the news."

In a letter released Monday, Hunter asked Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld to yank CNN from the military embedding program, in which journalists spend time with combat units in Iraq.

Hunter, a staunch defender of the Bush administration and its handling of the war in Iraq, said the decision was irresponsible because it could encourage more attacks on U.S. troops.

"CNN has now served as the publicist for an enemy propaganda film featuring the killing of an American soldier," wrote Hunter, chairman of the House Armed Services Committee. California Republican Reps. Darrell Issa and Brian Bilbray also signed the letter.

CNN last week aired the footage, which was delivered through a contact with an insurgent leader.

The footage does not show the actual death or wounding of any service member. In one instance, the tape shows a service member milling around a public area. A shot rings out, and the tape fades to black.

Hunter's fury over the video underscores the tightrope often walked by news media in the war. Critics of the war say Americans see very little of the daily violence in Iraq because of television's reluctance to show gory footage. Dangerous conditions also keep journalists from reporting independent of military units that provide them protection.

and you can't report both sides either in America?

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Pfffft, quiet, Fox News boy.

</sarcasm>

I don't understand. How does filming an insurgent sniper hamper our victory in Iraq? It's not like they were showing an American sniper's position.

Well for one thing it shows that not everything is going America's way in Iraq, and Big Brother Rumsfeld wouldn't want people knowing that. They can always hide behind the defence of showing footage of American soldiers being shot at is too distressing (but it's okay to show Iraqis who have been killed, or tortured or whatever they want to call it, because we all know an American's life is worth more than a foreigners.)
I might just be being cynical, because I'm getting more and more fed up with this shit.

No, that was a fine statement, Laura.

Let's not even get into the avoidance of showing flag-draped coffins.

There's nothing anyone can do at this point to hide the fact that we're over there for all the wrong reasons. I'm not saying anyone should give up, just realize that you're not hiding anything from anyone. Bush and his cabinet will go down in U.S. history as one of the worst ever, all we can hope for is that the next one is better. And in the mean time, just pray for those who have died and their families.

I know you're only playing devil's advocate, but shit ... we could be winning the war, beating the living fuck out of the insurgency, and they still might have a few snipers that take shots at us. It's meaningless.

Thanks. It makes me sick to my stomach. I can't imagine how much worse I'd feel if I was actually American, but then again, my country is in this godforsaken war too.

If I was American, I'd be offended that my government thought so little of me that they felt they had to hide the truth. Of course, maybe they're just trying to cover their tracks and minimise the fall out from their awful mistake.

http://www.iraqbodycount.org/

Right. It's just an example, is what I'm getting at.

I guess the thinking is that showing the video will encourage more snipers by making them "famous"... if they shoot a soldier, they will get their message shown on American TV.

I'm mixed on this one, I think it's very important to show the reality of the carnage this war has caused to our soldiers, but we don't want to give credence to the idea that "violence = media attention" and we certain don't want to become jaded to the images of our servicemen dying.

It sounds like it was a film made by the insurgents, rather than footage taken by CNN or newswire services, so that does make it seem a bit more like aiding the enemy. I'm not in any way saying that this should be punished, but I would much rather have news services aquire their own visuals than rely on the involved parties for them.

But hey, maybe CNN is feeling the heat from YouTube and the like where one can see this footage if one so desires. Most people familiar with YouTube know about "Jubba" and how the cameraman can't help but say "Allahu-akbar" after every shot. You'd think that might give them away.

Rappers don't inspire violence, they just write about the world they live in.

Anyone else notice this? Hunter distorted the facts a bit.

Well that certainly is the implication, isn't it? Regardless of what occurs in it, it appears to be an enemy propaganda film, if you would notice that it is refered to as the "insurgents' video", demonstrating possesion.

Actually he didn't. Did you see the video? It shows a soldier in a gun turret...you hear a shot...and then the soldier slumps down motionless and the car (that the sniper is using) is heard starting and driving away.

As far as the journalistic value of this, I see nothing more than something that is "controversial" and geared towards ratings. CNN generally plays things down the middle, so I don't read much into this other than that. Personally I wouldn't have shown it out of respect for the family and loved ones of the soldier who is shown being shot. Just my opinion.

Let's take this as two cases. I haven't seen it, but I'll consider both.

If the video just shows a soldier milling around, you hear a shot, and it turns to black, then in my opinion it is 100% a complete propaganda production. Which means that CNN made contact and met with insurgents, knew about them, and then went on to basically give them free advertising for their production. Nothing wrong with that?

Let's say the scenario LeninFlux said is true. That we indeed see the genuine shooting and sniping of a US soldier.

Well, if that's the case, then I'm entirely and absolutely FURIOUS. I mean, that's like being complicit in that soldier's murder and selling his fucking soul to make a bit of money. It has nothing to do with reporting at that point and goes way beyond the point of common decency. If I died, and some jihadist filmed it, and then passed it on to CNN, and showed it to the world...oh Jesus. I wouldn't be a happy soul...

CNN is clearly aiding the enemy. They certainly aren't helping us. Let's say that soldier died, and they made contact with the group that killed him. Don't they, as a group of American's, owe it to America, that soldier, and his family to dime those mother fuckers out?

Please, exaplain to me, how letting these people go, when you know they did something like this, and not doing something to put them to justice, and then broadcasting the soldiers murder is responsible in the slightest.

I think a journalist specifically DOES NOT have that responsibility, assuming there was even a way to track where the video came from.

For the most part, I think the news plays up death and violence too much, but if it happened, if it's on video, someone's going to argue that it's news. I suppose you could argue bias (a different American/Insurgency death ratio than occurs in real life), but I don't watch enough news networks to say if that's correct or not.

The arguments you make could also be made for showing any videos of 9/11. I mean, wouldn't it have embolded terrorists to watch 3000 Americans die live on TV. What about serial killers? Some nuts are going to want the kind of coverage that the BTK killer got, or Dahmer.

I don't think the news should ignore the possible impact of what they report, but I don't know that they should prioritize that over showing true occurances.

I'm thinking more of the "snuff film" aspect. If the killer filmed it, would the video of a girl walking down the street getting shot by some psycho be legit news footage that should be shown (even if the never showed the actual bullet impact)? I would say no, and so I think it may be a double standard to show a soldier in a similiar situation. It's fact that it was filmed by the one of the killers that makes this issue complicated.

I've said it before and I'll say it again. I'm pretty much against dead people being shown on TV. Simply for the victim though.

So far as 9-11 goes, I think it's two completely different cases. There's a big difference in showing dead bodies on the sidewalk after a suicide bombing, and broadcasting a LIVE event in which people just randomnly start jumping from the towers. Further more, when you show dead people like that, it's a lot more personal than showing a plan slamming into a tower where people just died. Or even watching a video of a bomb landing on some building where people just died. What I really hate is the situations where the media just errantly shows bodies on the TV where someones mom, dad, grandma, grandpa, brother, or sister could find out their loved one is dead because their body is on the TV. It's disgraceful. Utterly disgraceful, and completely tasteless. The same goes with this. If the kid in the machineun turret...if his mom sees that, then fuck CNN.

What's the point of it? Seriously. What's the point? What does it furhter other than someone's own personal career and CNN's ratings. It's not like it's illuminating the world into something that we don't already know. It's not forwarding peace either.

What REALLY burns my buttons though, is that these people made contact with these people and didn't rat them out. That's the worst part about it all.