Three years later, the NYT realizes that there are independent journalists in Iraq
And that they are doing the jobs that Americans won't do
By Jeff Emanuel Posted in embedded reporting | Iraq | Media | Michael Yon | War — Comments (3) / Email this page » / Leave a comment »
The New York Times has a long-overdue article up today profiling my good friend Michael Yon, one of the two longest-serving independent journalists in Iraq. Yon first traveled to Iraq shortly after the Blackwater contractors were killed and defiled in Fallujah, and has been in and out of the country (more in than out) for the better part of the last three years. Only J.D. Johannes, a documentary filmmaker and another good friend, has been conducting independent journalism in-country nearly as long.
Read the whole thing. Then, if you still have any stamina remaining, click over here and read what it is that makes these people different from 95% of ordinary journalists who go to Iraq and try to cover the war there.
[Updated below the fold]
J.D. mentions in an email that the article reads like "the NYT writer phoned it in." I largely agree. The article wasn't negative at all; however, to me it just seems like you could substitute any topic, and any individual, that you wanted to, and the story would read the same way, no tweaking necessary -- like it was a prefab piece.
That, though, is probably more of an indictment of J-Schools these days than of the individual writer. Regardless, I'm glad that this article got off the ground -- and that it was linked from the Drudge Report. That's a good thing all around.
Update 2: My good friend Scott Johnson at Power Line agrees.
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Three years later, the NYT realizes that there are independent journalists in Iraq 3 Comments (0 topical, 3 editorial, 0 hidden) Post a comment »
as doing a job Americans won't do - in other words, bad-mouthing the USA both locally and abroad. Same idea as yours, really.
I really like YOn's work, I've been following that for awhile. I'm happy to see the Treason Times do acknowledge something obvious - great for Michael!
Kill the terrorists
Protect the borders
Punch the hippies -- Frank J
Wow
On the other hand...
I guess it's too much to expect that the NYT would
1) put the story on the front page of the front section, instead of in the business section, and
2) offer Yon a permanent column for the duration of the war.
W.C. Fields for President!
www.shortenurl.com/7cxfm
After all it does nothing but raise the questions of why they weren't doing a better job of coverage all along. Why did they have to rely on stringers that were in the employ of the terrorists ?
I have to ask how this slipped by and boy am I glad it did.
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"Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom must, like men, undergo the fatigue of supporting it."
-Thomas Paine: The American Crisis, No. 4, 1777