h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

we were having an interesting discussion in my politics lecture about the nature of embedded reporters and the fact that their being attached to the troops carries a number of conditions and restrictions on what they can or can't report, so the news we receive from them is bound to be skewed. However, the majority of reporters are embedded, as the sad case of Terry Lloyd shows the dangers that those who go out in the field could be subjected to.

This is a very interesting article on BBC news about the problems of embedding

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/2885179.stm

very interesting, thanks for the link, hadn't seen that.

I know the German guy in my politics group was saying that he'd read about all the restrictions, like that they can't show dead coalition forces, and they can only report what they are told they can, and that article was very interesting, especially that bullet point list saying exactly what they can report.

..and more

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/2893921.stm and there was a similar piece on Rafio 4's Today this morning - part of which mentioned how the defence secretary, fresh fro a MoD briefing, heard a story which he hadn't been briefed on and which turned out to be almost a total fabrication based on bad information from embeded reporters.

Seems like people are begining to realise that the reporting leaves loads to be desired

CH

http://www.guardian.co.uk/g2/story/0,3604,922581,00.html

I particularly liked this little summary of the different channel's:
"Sky (slick but tasteless), ITV (amateur), BBC News 24 (manic and incomprehensible) and CNN (slower, but more intelligent)."

http://www.centerpublicintegrity.org
http://www.now/pbs.org

A lot can be learned at these two sites.

The present reporting is as bad as during the Falklands war.I was a young Navy wife with a husband on standby.He wasn't called to go fortunately.However I sat and listened to the reporting and I was sick to my stomach all the time because I was working in a Portsmouth school with students and colleagues who had family involved.The worst phrase that I STILL remember to this day is 'one of our ships has been lost'

The Gulf was better(marginally)because it was over quickly and so we were spared any really horrific reporting apart from the gungho variety.

So far in the present reporting I'm sick of endless speculation,innuendo,supposition,guesswork and downright incorrect facts.How many more times must we watch the giving out of info only for it to be retracted minutes later.It's just downright bad reporting.

Please all channels just give the true,substantiated,correct facts and I'll do the supposition,speculation,innuendo and guesswork for myself.

Incog.

But how can you fill a 24 hour news channels without relying on speculation, rumour and the padding out of reports with things people just don't need to know about. I'm surprised there isn't an hourly summary on the state of reporters' bowel movements.

"It's the middle of the night, and a bomb just fell somewhere in the same city as me. Again." somehow doesn't qualify as vital news to me.

Maybe they should just have a psychic reporter sitting in a dark room in London trying to guess what's happening.
"I see rolling green fields. What's that? - Oh I meant to say desert. Desert and tanks. And tbe letter F. Is there someone whose name starts with an F who is relevent here? No - maybe it's an S - Sam, Stuart, Simon, Sandra. Is it something line Sandra?"

For an illuminating take on 'freedom of the press', see:

http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/28/30008.html

I found a good description of the war reporting by Neil Gaiman:

"I've started worrying that the war is becoming entertainment, or at least the way it's being presented is. On each channel tonight, lots of clever on-screen graphics, lots of people who don't know what they're talking about giving the kind of general opinions that can't be proved or disproved."

http://www.neilgaiman.com/journal/journal.asp

I blame it on the Ancient Egyptians. Their scribes used to follow the troops into action to make sure Pharaoh had all the latest blarney

"I'm surprised there isn't an hourly summary on the state of reporters' bowel movements."

To some extent we are. I was reading a piece yesterday about the deliberately binding qualities of the field rations - what are they called? Field Rations E-something? He commented on the slang term "Food Reluctant to Exit", and gave more information about the latrines and the noises coming from them than I felt the need to know. I have got the gist right and the acronyms wrong.

Has anyone else been enjoying Peregrine's 'Troop Movements' thread: F19585?thread=258855

B

Weel the public must be tiring of the coverage - Neighbours is back on BBC1 instead of an extended news

CH

If you think we get a raw deal in coverage, think of the poor people of Swaziland - they get a chap in a broom cupboard pretending to be in Iraq...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/2904065.stm

Sprout

I checked the date on that one very carefully.Still not sure about it though.


Incog.