Rant for CB
I am livid about how they grossly screwed up the NPR article on CB. They had a perfect piece of writing, and blew it!
So I went out of character and wrote a rant to the NPR response people, where it will never see the light of day.
Folks,
You blew it. A guy in Iraq getting shot at big time manages to write beautifully about dramatic and important events, and you put his family at risk by publishing his name all over the web and on the radio.
That’s much, much worse than misrepresenting the purpose of the article to that author, which you seem to have done here, or completely losing the clue about what the phrase “operational security” means, or conflating mysterious “insurgents” with the Al-Qaeda fighters in black who rained RPG fire upon the Strykers, or building a narrative frame that rings false to military people who are actually there. Did you frame your question to Michael O’Hanlon to get the answer you wanted, instead of giving him enough information to understand what was going on?
Now this Army guy will worry about people who want to kill him harassing him or his family. Perhaps you could follow up with phone numbers of his mom so they can directly call her up at three in the morning and falsely tell her that her son is dead, as has happened to families of soldiers recently? It would be *so* hard for them to look it up, at least thirty seconds of work.
Thanks. Thanks a lot. Thanks for really caring about the troops.
Chap.
Mudville finds no joy, either.
And NPR’s reader sounded exactly like the bus driver on the Simpsons.
8 Responses to “Rant for CB”
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August 26th, 2004 at 1:58 pm
More MilBlogs Chatter
(See Previous entry here.) The NPR post has vanished from My War. And from Hook’s, but he knows not why. Chap notes that NPR broke opsec. It really is close to Plamegate, but it’s just an Army corporal that might…
August 26th, 2004 at 2:08 pm
Sorry. This is way over the top. This was NPR doing this? Who was responsible for publishing this information?
August 26th, 2004 at 3:05 pm
Yup, good old NPR. They emailed the soldier and the soldier thought they were writing about something different. And he didn’t know there was going to be a, um, dramatic reading.
While my blood’s still hot–Can you imagine what NPR would probably have done with a well-written blog entry by a sensitive, consumptive waif belonging to an oppressed group who survived the Stonewall riots? Would they have done the story like they did this one? I think not. Not fair.
August 26th, 2004 at 3:16 pm
This is what is called “ambush journalism,” and it’s practiced all the time in lieu of real journalism. Absent a sense of integrity, NPR and other agenda-driven mouthpieces take a situation to their advantage by re-contextualizing it according to their perspective.
August 26th, 2004 at 4:45 pm
I saw those SOB’s put his name in the article and hit the roof!! I just sat here with my mouth opening, not believing they were really that stupid. That guy has already had the shit scared out of him when he called called in about the blog. He didn’t need this. What he is/was doing benefited not just him, but so many people. Now I wouldn’t blame him one bit if he just said Screw It and stopped.
That Sucks Big Time. *censored out of respect for your site*
August 26th, 2004 at 8:44 pm
I have lost all respect for these so called journalists.
August 27th, 2004 at 6:13 am
Somebody drove a stake through it’s heart.
Someone drove a spike through…
August 27th, 2004 at 8:42 am
War Zone Blogger Crackdown?
Blogs of War was the first place I saw a mention of a possible crackdown by the military on bloggers in combat area. John Donovan mentions the same NPR piece. They both discuss My War. Other blogging: MilBlogs An Army…