Saturday, March 22, 2003

Will the current conflict be described by future generations as war or rather as slaughter?

So We're All Clear on the Rules

In order to be "embedded" within a U.S. military unit in the Persian Gulf, reporters must agree to ground rules set forth by the Department of Defense. In case you haven't seen these and are wondering exactly what they are, the full text is available on DOD's DefenseLink site. There is no specific mention of online or Internet in the rules. However, they do cover many topics, including specifically which types of information are and are not releaseable. Also, back on February 14, Editor & Publisher published a good, although brief, analysis of the DOD rules. Both documents are well worth a look.
It is unclear when unreleaseable will become releaseable at a later date -- or whether it's permanently censored. The rules don't seem to say. ... But perhaps online-news venues might down the road look at the possibility of obtaining material that's currently censored, and using it to fill in the holes in the current Swiss-cheese war reporting. This is something that online media might be able to accomplish far more effectively than print or broadcast.