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. US Mobilizes World Media
Sunday Times Foreign Desk
Although officials continued to insist that no decision had been reached on using military force, journalists covering the war with the US armed forces were told which fighting units they would be attached to, and when they would get smallpox and anthrax inoculations. They have been told they must be ready to ship out by the weekend.
The war against Iraq starts on Friday - at least as far as the world's media are concerned. This week the Pentagon issued hundreds of journalists with instructions for covering the war in a move taken as a clear sign that the conflict is imminent. Although officials continued to insist that no decision had been reached on using military force, journalists covering the war with the US armed forces were told which fighting units they would be attached to, and when they would get smallpox and anthrax inoculations. They have been told they must be ready to ship out by the weekend. The Telegraph reports that the US is assigning reporters from around the world to frontline units with which they will remain for the duration of the conflict. The newspaper adds that Donald Rumsfeld, the US Secretary of Defence, is understood to have concluded that the previous policy of trying to keep reporters far behind the lines offered the US's enemies easy propaganda opportunities. Media organisations have largely welcomed the new arrangement, which came after bitter arguments at the lack of access the US military provided reporters in Afghanistan. But concerns have been raised about the extent to which journalists' copy will be censored. According to Editor & Publisher, those units expected to be involved in combat will get the biggest allocations of reporters. The online edition of the trade magazine quoted Colonel Jay DeFrank, director of press operations for the US Department of Defence, as saying: "We've tried to ensure coverage in-depth, which means units that are most likely to see combat get good, meaningful newspaper coverage, TV coverage, and other broadcast coverage. It is not based on the safety of the units." Journalists will not be allowed to carry firearms, he added. DeFrank confirmed that more than 500 journalists would be "embedded" with troops involved in the expected invasion of Iraq, but declined to reveal the exact number of embedded slots being assigned. He said the number could fluctuate as units were deployed and as access for reporters in different Middle East countries changed. "The journalists still have to get approval [to enter] the countries," he said. "Some may shut them out." Although all journalists will have to abide by basic rules for travel with the units, each commander will have the flexibility to restrict access based on need. "We can't jeopardise the safety of the journalist or the success of the mission," DeFrank said. "It will be up to each commander to decide how much access to combat the reporter will get." Meanwhile, respected CBS News anchor Dan Rather has said he doubted whether embedding journalists among troops would help coverage of a possible war, Associated Press reports. At a press conference at which CBS outlined its war preparations, Rather put it this way: "There's a pretty fine line between being embedded and being entombed." Rather expressed his caution because of experiences during the Gulf War when much of the material gathered by journalists travelling with the military was not allowed to be printed or aired until long after the war was over. CBS News is nevertheless sending eight teams to Iraq, including White House reporter John Roberts. All are being trained by the US military, the network said. "I have trepidations," Rather said. "I hope it works. I think it can work. We'll see." Roberts believes there's a greater understanding in the military of the need to have journalists doing their job in war time. Should Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein unleash chemical weapons, it would help to have the media recording it, he said. "There's no better way to put the lie to Saddam's statements than to have the eyes and ears of the US media there," Roberts said. © Johnnic Publishing 
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