German: Under 3 mins.  1618.

EMBEDDED  JOURNALISTS

Scene: Background TV shows “Battle at Najef”. Hand in foreground holds remote control. Other scenes follow rapidly (will not all be listed below).

Man’s voice:  “Those who want to do so can watch war in England 24/7 on three channels. BBC 24, ITV and Sky news report on the Iraq war around the clock, the first actual full-scale war in history that for coverage bmo pictures and impressions is currently unique.  (Time 0.0019)  The British newspapers, located on both the upper and the lower ends of the international  quality scale, dramatically make a point of everything possible in order to ‘educate’ the public about the adventures of the ‘brave British boys’ in Iraq.  With the evidence produced by the TV-pictures, they of course ‘cannot’ falsify the facts.”

Scene: Convoy.

Comment in English:  “We left Bazra as we arrived, in a two-lane convoy which stretched back for miles.” (Time: 0.00.47)

Scene: Industrial complex, black (oil fire?) smoke.

Man’s voice: “A new concept was born: ‘Embedded journalists’, i.e. journalists embedded amongst the troops, moving with them in the field.  Their pictures are ‘pooled’, and so are their reports, so all British senders  carry the same recordings.”

Scene: British tank passing a 155 mm field gun. (Time: 0.01:05)

Man’s voice: “Only the ...(inaudible)... reports are exclusive.”

Scene: Man walks towards camera.

Man’s voice:  “This new type of journalist  must be seen in a positive light. ‘The war will be transformed into a permanent debt’ critics say.  According to The Guardian’s political chief, the BBC alone has 16 embedded journalists. Altogether 200 BBC journalists work on only the Iraq reports. ”

Scene: BCC newsreader Maxine Malwhinney and male colleaguge behind BBC News 24 broadcasting desk. (Time: 0.01.26)

Malwinney (comments in English): “For detail, kook at the military action unfolding in Iraq.” ... (Voice fades away)...

Man’s voice:  “Maxine Mawhinney was a news presenter on BBC 24.  This Northern Irish lady used to report about the work of her colleagues in the Iraq permanent mission.”  (Time: 0.01.41) “The previous BBC  ... (inaudible)... Brian Barron ...” (scene showing Brian Barron (not recognizable) in a red light) “... was a journalist embedded on an American warship when the missiles were fired at Baghdad. The pictures are unbelievable; ...” (scene showing missile being fired from naval vessel) “...  the fascination of the terrible scenes can hardly be imagined ...” (another scene showing Brian Barron (recognizable) in a red light) (Time: 0.01. 57)

Man’s voice:  “The first casualty of war is always the truth. This quotation is also applicable to the embedded journalists, especially when so many views and inputs need to be shared on one page, the outcome cannot be guaranteed unequivocally.”

Man’s voice:  “The Arabian community has already investigated what advantage can be had from this situation. Mari Ottoman and the publishers of the Arab newspaper  Al Haryat  (الحياة) in London[1]  and their colleagues regard this war as a terrorist, colonial war. The BBC reports that their correspondents,  ...” (unclear)...

Man’s voice:  “The BBC declares that the interest of the public in this war is enormous, and even the soldiers in the Gulf area themselves are consumers, and expect to find the shows filled with hard facts, as a BBC spokesman admits with refreshing openness.”

End of video.