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Wednesday, August 10, 2005

How the L.A. Times sources its Iraq stories 
A few separate readers have referred me to this educational piece by Los Angeles Times staff writers Rone Tempest and Scott Gold - a profile on a California National Guard battalion commander now stationed in Iraq.

The piece attempts to capture the flavor of an unorthodox and colorful commander and his command climate - a study in military leadership, which is always a subject of interest to me.

Unfortunately, the piece is educational not because it tells me anything about this commander and his methods, but because it tells me a lot about what passes for reporting at the Los Angeles Times.

* The article was written entirely from the United States. No Times reporter apparently ever visited the unit in the field.

* Media math: 11 soldiers out of 800 charged with detainee abuse = < 1.4% of his command being charged (not convicted) = "widespread abuse."

* The Times ran the profile without even talking to the subject of the story. Not because he refused to comment, but because cell phone calls weren't returned. (You think a battalion commander in combat might be a little busy? You should have called his adjutant, losers.)

* The Times got a quote on how "everybody" was shocked at the colonel's unorthodox methods -- from a guy who didn't even deploy with the unit.

* Here's what passes for a color quote: "When we heard him say that, we heard a lot of people go "Oh." Yeah, that's hitting the pitch out of the park, scoop. You're a regular Ernie Pyle!

* He relies on one Staff Sergeant Dominguez, who is one of LTC Frey's critics, and says his eccentricities were beyond anything he had ever seen. (Good thing Dominguez never served under Stonewall Jackson or George Patton!). But Dominguez isn't even in Iraq with his unit. He's in CONUS, "awaiting honorable discharge." What does that mean? Why isn't this guy forward with his unit? Think there might be a backstory here, scoop? What are you not telling us? Think Dominguez might not have been brought forward for a REASON? Think Dominguez might have been sacked? Are you really that gullible?

* What's up with the scare quotes in the expression "soldiers would "clear" their weapons," dude?

* The reporter, apparently, thinks it's weird for a commander to counsel his troops not to fuck around on pass. I shit thee not...the fact that he advised his soldiers not to be sexually promiscuous while on pass is evidence of his unfitness for command in the LA Times.

Must be a Californial thing. .



All told, a sorry effort. But this is the quality of news that's making our nation's papers, and this is where the public is getting its impression of the war from.

Splash, out

Jason

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