Former war correspondent and editor at the Boston Herald Jules Crittenden gave a presentation on military-press relations at the Dickinson ROTC Building on Wednesday.
The presentation explored the history of war correspondence, detailed Crittenden’s personal experience as an embedded reporter in Iraq and provided advice to the audience about interacting with the media in a combat environment. Crittenden was assigned to five hostile zone assignments from 1998 until 2003, in Kashmir, Kosovo, Israel, Nagorno-Karabakh and Iraq.
“I turned my purpose in life into finding those bad places and convincing my bosses to send me there,” said Crittenden.
Crittenden discussed the implications of the Internet and modern technology for soldiers interacting with the media. He emphasized that with improvements in technology, any civilian can report in the way that only established organizations were previously capable of.
“Conduct yourself while operating as if you’re on a building in Time Square,” he advised.
Crittenden talked about the history of war correspondence, first describing the activities of numerous reporters who went missing or were killed in action throughout the twentieth century.
He described the progression of war correspondence throughout human history, tracing the evolution from ancient writers such as Thucydides and Xenophon to reporters embedded in modern military conflicts.
“In all of these ancient war stories there are lessons that are still relevant,” said Crittenden.
Crittenden then discussed his personal experience as an embedded reporter with the U.S. Army during the invasion of Iraq from February to April of 2003.
He described how he and other war correspondents were trained by the Army on how to interact in hostile zones. This training also taught reporters about military structure and culture.
“The degree of ignorance amongst my colleagues there was colossal,” Crittenden said.
The military’s embedded reporting program was controversial within the media. Many reporters felt that having to live and operate with the military would make it impossible for journalists to report impartially.
Crittenden detailed one incident in which he was involved with controversy, when he was accompanying Army members in a tank in Baghdad and was able to see Iraqi soldiers in a way the soldiers he was with could not.
“That actually became kind of controversial because I was basically directing him where to fire,” he said.
Crittenden said the military’s decision to allow uncensored embedded reporting during the Iraq War was based on an anticipation that widespread coverage of the campaign would be to the military’s strategic advantage. He felt the degree of freedom allowed to reporters during the conflict allowed for a huge amount of reporting from the conflict, and that living with reporters caused the military to act more naturally than if reporters were only occasionally present.
“When you have the media living beside you, they’re going to see you in your underwear,” Crittenden said.
He also described his experience in Iraq and his relations with the military while he was embedded. He explained how he was able to build a trusting relationship with the unit he was in while still being able to report fairly.
Crittenden ended the presentation with advice for the Army cadets on how to interact with embedded reporters. He recommended maintaining a good relationship with the reporters, while remembering that they are present to report anything that happens.
Crittenden also stressed that anything that reporters and the military do not agree to as having occurred off the record beforehand is capable of being described by reporters, and that these mutual agreements are best made in advance.
“The media is not your friend,” said Crittenden. “They may be your ally. You do not want the media to be your enemy.”
Stuart Foster can be reached at [email protected] and followed on Twitter @Stuart_C_Foster.
