Mr. Andrew Lubin, an independent war correspondent, is just beginning his address. Although Lubin is relatively new to his profession, he has already made a mark on Fox, CNN and ABC. His book, Charlie Battery: A Marine Artillery Unit in Iraq, earned critical acclaim.
This blog will be updated during Lubin's speech. Feel free to pose any questions to Mr. Lubin through this blog.
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•Lubin is relatively new to journalism—he’s only been involved for about three years, but his book, Charlie Battery: A Marine Artillery Unit in Iraq, received critical acclaim. Lubin has also appeared on Fox, ABC and CNN.
ReplyDelete•More than 700 journalists embedded during the opening days of OIF.
•The American public is tired of IED news coverage.
•Although coverage of Iraq and Afghanistan waned over the last year, it has recently picked up with the Obama Administration’s focus on Afghanistan. However, embedding with units in Afghanistan remains difficult.
•Retinal scans, fingerprinting and a long application process make embedding challenging.
•“The American public is not as dumb as people may think.” They are tired of the same old story coming from Iraq and Afghanistan. Traditional public affairs officers often hinder reporters’ ability to tell the story effectively.
•The nature of news is not changing—the delivery method is.
ReplyDelete•News should not be treated as a commodity.
•“Accuracy is not necessary to be popular, which is important.”—This phenomena makes it difficult to report a COIN war, which is complicated and progress is measured in years.
•YouTube clips are not news because they lack context.
•“The bad news is the internet gives access to those who shouldn’t be in the news business.”
•Lubin divided the media into several types: traditional mainstream media and freelance journalists and internet reporters.
•Bloggers often produce opinion-based blogs without context, accuracy and complete reporting.
•The five W’s—who, what, where, when and why distinguish professional journalists from many bloggers.
•“There is news and there is information.”
•DoD needs to clear up confusion about how to use social media. Social media allows military personnel to stay in touch with their families.
•“Blogs seem to encourage a consensus reality. If enough people say it, it appears to be true.”
•“We need news and what we get is entertainment.”
•Bloggers pick and choose the facts they need to justify their arguments.
•Societal changes are driving some of the changes in news. Evening newscasts are not as popular as they once were. The public is not reading newspapers on a regular basis. Current events are no longer a basic part of education as they once were.
ReplyDelete•“No American can seriously claim that he or she is lacking information coming from overseas.”
The question is, are they consuming it?
•War correspondents are divided into three groups: mainstream media correspondents, internet correspondents (otherwise known as digital correspondents) and finally new media or second-tier mainstream media correspondents.
•“Subject matter expertise is what separates good journalists from lightweights.”
•The military should not complain about stories coming from the mainstream media when it does not give access to smaller, independent journalists.
•“It’s not a question of whether we’re for or against the war. It’s a question of what’s happening.”
•Journalists want views of kinetic operations, they want access to leadership—including intelligence and operational briefs.
Q&A with Mr. Lubin:
ReplyDelete•How do you handle a journalist who is deliberately distorting the facts? Answer: Provide your own message.
•“The problem is the war has gone on too long and people don’t care anymore.” “We can’t get anything to see because it’s been too long for too many years.”
•How does the media accurately characterize what is going on across the AOR? Answer: You can’t do it by T.V., you need the time print journalism affords. The American public must be interested first.
•Ralph Peters: U.S. media is not as skeptical of insurgent media releases as they should be.