Bagram Air Base near Kabul, Afghanistan
As I passed through the Media Operations Center at Bagram Air Base today, I saw a CNN story contrasting Iraq and Afghanistan. My biggest beef with the story is that CNN continues to show footage of Marines involved in heavy combat in Ramadi every time they talk about the war. Unfortunately that the footage was shot in 2005. This is usually overlaid on a big screen when they have a talking head pontificating on the war. They’re just using it as background footage, but it gives the American people the subtle message that the fighting is still that intense – when in reality Iraq is now probably safer than Columbus, Ohio. It’s dishonest, and they should stop doing it. Believe me, nobody understands the need for exciting b-roll more than I do – but how about showing the Iraqi Security forces going on a raid instead of the worn-out old footage of Marines in a firefight that happened years ago?
The CNN piece also showed clips from an interview with General McKiernan, the commander of forces here. They touted it as an “exclusive,” but that’s not quite true, either. CNN requested the footage, but it was shot by a military combat camera crew – there was no CNN reporter present. The footage was then uploaded to www.dvidshub.net, where it becomes public domain and is available to every media outlet on the planet – for free. As a matter of fact, here’s a link to the footage. It’s a bit of a stretch to call that an “exclusive.”
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