Degrees of Access: Factors Preventing Wide-Scope Coverage of the Iraq War by Embedded Reporters--From "Shock and Awe" to "Mission Accomplished" (March 21 - May 1, 2003)

Abstract

Reporters "embedded" with U.S. military units during the first two months of the Iraq War (2003-) dealt with a number of impediments the combination of which was previously unseen in the history of war reporting. These included physical proximity, bonding, and shared peril with American soldiers, informal self-censorship based on "ground rules," and technological capacity for real-time visual transmission of reportage. These and other factors such as travel restrictions and post-9/11 editorial bias prevented "embeds" from seeing anything but a narrow slice of the war.