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20 Comm. Law. 1 (2002-2003)

handle is hein.journals/comlaw20 and id is 1 raw text is: iAle Publication of the Forum on Communications LawM American Bar Association a Volume 20, Number 1, Spring 2002 HOMEFRONT CONFIDENTIAL How the U.S. Government Has Undermined Journalists' Ability to Cover the War on Terrorism PHILLIP TAYLOR AND LUCY DALGLISH War coverage blankets the nation's air- waves and newspapers every, day, giv- ing the impression that Americans know or can know almost all there is to under- stand about the United States's involve- ment in the conflict in Afghanistan. But how much information does tile public really have? Consider: The escalation of U.S. forces before the October 7 attacks on Afghanistan generally occurred without a media presence. When bombing strikes began, reporters watched from afar, with only a few enjoying a vantage point within Afghanistan itself and none with troops in active combat. * Pentagon officials denounced reports of a late-night raid on October 19 involving U.S. Army Rangers and other special forces near Kandahar, particularly an account from Seymour Hersch in a New Yorker article that detailed the mission as a glorified failure. Yet officials still Phillip Taylor (ptaylor@ reporters comnittee.org) is the 2001-02 McCormick Tribune Journalism Fellow at the Reporters Committee. Lucy Dalglish (ldalglish@reporters contittee.org) is Executive Director, Reporters Cotinittee for Freedom of the Press, Arington, Virginia. decline to offer details. • Press restrictions early in the war constrained coverage so much that American reporters learned second- hand about the fall of Mazar-e-Shafif, a strategic city because of its airfields and roads to Uzbekistan where U.S. troops were based. Other raids and victories transpired without independ- ent witnesses. The Defense Deoartment continually refuses to field uifficult questions concerning the January 24, 2002, raid at Oruzgan. where Afghan resi- dents claim that U.S. Special Forces beat, shot, and killed men without giving them a chance to surrender. These issues raise important ques- tions about the ability of a free press to cover a profoundly important national and international initiative. This article will discuss restrictions on two fronts. First, it will assess the state of access on the Afghanistan front. Second, it will assess the equally important issue of secrecy on the homefront. Lack of Access to the Battlefield Defense officials describe the war in Afghanistan as a different kind of war, one that the Pentagon often describes as a war with multiple battles along multi- ple fronts and possibly against multiple and sometimes unknown enemies. For journalists, that's become code for restricted access. We are in a whole new world here, Assistant Defense Secretary Victoria Clarke told Washington bureau chiefs during a September 28 briefing. We're trying to figure out the rules of the road. We are trying to figure out how to work with you, how to make sure you get what you need... while protecting the national security and the safety of the men and women in uniform. Journalists had heard this talk before, more than eleven years ago as American forces limited press access during parts of the Persian Gulf War. Corralled into pools and daily briefings, reporters later said they felt the Gulf War was remark- ably uncovered. As with the Persian Gulf, this new war arena, the deserts and mountains of Afghanistan, offered little hope of easy access to those reporting the war to the world. Compromises with the Pentagon during peacetime have not stuck. A post-Gulf War agreement-a nine-point statement of principles forged in 1992--designated open coverage, not pools, as the default coverage system during wartime.' If journalists had hoped that such an agreement would stand, they were quickly disappointed. Despite personal (Continued on page 23) Journalisiandid tiewar on ,Terrorism ..............................1 Chair's ....... ...................... I .......... 2 ibel by.Imp .icaio.. ... ......... ............ 3 : ,The Problem with Unpublished Opinions...............13 -I' v tI c riapp~iilou tu ........I ...... xz Do ,C elebrities Ownirnformation AboutThmevs......1 Bibliography ..............28. Courtside ............................... o...... s..... 30'

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