There is an ethical gray area in journalism. A journalist is supposed to be neutral and supposed to report fairly and tell the full story, even if the reporting is unpleasant. Combat reporters of all sides have sat and filmed ambushes, air strikes etc. There were American journalists covering the Mujahideen in Afghanistan that filmed Soviet soldiers being massacred. I have heard this issue directly debated on an ethics program with some big names in the media, and it seemed to come down to how close the reporter is to the side being attacked.
American journalists tended to state that they would have a hard time sitting there and watching Americans die, even if that was a course more true to the pure profession. However, the same journalists would have no trouble if the target of the attack wasn't so close to home (nationality and/or cause). So here is a potential gray area, and it's clear what these particular journalists chose.
As pointed out though, this was not some attack on a military convoy. Linking the civilian cargo airliner to a military target is a stretch, and had it been shot down it could have crashed in a burning fireball killing hundreds of civilians. This was a propaganda event designed to be dramatic and to show some degree of powerlessness among American forces and potentially suggest to the viewing audience that this can potentially happen even closer to home. These journalists were happy to play along, at whatever the cost in lives.
Frankly though, I have to agree in a limited way with Slo (lacking the personal venom), that as disturbing as these types of images are they do remind people what war is about, and how serious the decision must be to support the drive to war. The people being killed every day are real, and the camera can turn them into real people instead of a statistic that is easy to dismiss. "Why, more people die from murder in L.A. each day..." It doesn't matter if there are 100 or 100,000 causalities to the families of the dead and wounded. Young American's are on the firing line, they are being killed, and a bunch of American's who will be enjoying a tranquil Thanksgiving far removed from the war zone helped put them there. Whether or not the cause is ultimately proven worth their sacrifice, it is a reality that must be acknowledged along with counter images like Saddam’s statue being pulled down.
Charon
