24 March 2003 – The war in Iraq has exposed 24/7 journalism as never before. Faced with censorship, conflicting “intelligence” briefings, and incessant pressure to be first with the news on a minute-by-minute basis, reporters have been totally unable to check their facts. The result has been a mish-mash of information, with frequent contradictions of figures and assertions within the same news bulletin.

Some of this has been due to the “embedding” of journalists within the British and American forces; an attempt to impose strict control of the news, with the admitted beneficial side effect of exposing reporters to fewer risks. Just how great those risks can be for journalists determined to go out and get the story for themselves has been tragically illustrated by the death of ITN’s Terry Lloyd. Lloyd was behaving in the best tradition of ITN reporters, scorning official briefings and setting out to see the facts for himself. He paid for his diligence with his life; ironically, it would seem, at the hands of trigger-happy Coalition soldiery. PressWise supports the demand by the NUJ to the Ministry of Defence for a full inquiry into the incident.

Truth has traditionally been the first casualty of war. It now seems that those who try to tell it have become the second. Behind the official crocodile tears of regret for the death of a brave journalist and, most probably, of those who accompanied him, will no doubt lurk the satisfaction that fewer reporters will now be tempted to go and seek out the facts for themselves. That is a tragedy for journalism, for the right of the public in a democracy to know what is being done in their name, and for the pursuit of truth. We mourn them all.

Bill Norris
Associate Director

(Bulletin No 81)