MRE Calls for Congressional Probe
In two letters to Congress, Military Reporters and Editors President Ron Martz asks the chairmen of the House and Senate Armed Services committees to look into issues raised by the Pentagon’s use of a company to profile journalists wanting to be embedded with military units overseas.
Sept. 10, 2009
Senator Carl Levin
Chairman, Senate Armed Services Committee
Room SR-228, Russell Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510–6050
Dear Senator Levin:
Recent articles in the independent newspaper Although the nearly $2 million program has now been canceled as a result of unfavorable publicity, Military Reporters and Editors has serious concerns about how and why it was implemented and how widespread it was. We believe that a Congressional inquiry is warranted in order to determine the program’s true purpose and parameters and how news media coverage of the wars in Afghanistan, and possibly Iraq, could have been influenced as a result.
Those of us who have covered military affairs have known for years that the military has kept unofficial dossiers on reporters to determine their level of competence and the types of stories on which they are likely to report. That is not the issue here.
The issue is that a private contractor, The Rendon Group, was paid to compile these profiles without any government or civilian oversight. This raises the disturbing prospect of this organization manipulating the profiles for political purposes. By controlling which reporters get access to the battlefield, The Rendon Group, in essence, controlled the message coming from it. We believe that comes dangerously close to infringing on the constitutionally guaranteed rights of press freedom.
Military Reporters and Editors has fought long and hard for better access to military units in the field and was at the forefront of the negotiations to implement the embedded reporter system prior to Operation Iraqi Freedom 1. While that system worked well in its initial stages, it has become over-managed and over-bureaucratized. The media have had to deal with frequent imposition of draconian “ground rules” on which we have no input and seek to restrict front-line coverage of the wars or control the tone of that coverage.
We are requesting that the Senate Armed Services Committee examine the issues raised by the Pentagon’s contract with The Rendon Group and the manner in which this private contractor possibly has unduly influenced coverage of the war. We would also request that your committee investigate whether there has been any similar effort by the services to unnecessarily restrict or control coverage of our troops in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Very Respectfully,
Ron Martz
President, Military Reporters and Editors
Sept. 10, 2009
Congressman Ike Skelton
Chairman, House Armed Services Committee
2120 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20515
Dear Congressman Skelton:
Recent articles in the independent newspaper Stars and Stripes have uncovered a program in which Pentagon officials have used a private contractor to “profile” journalists seeking to report on ongoing combat operations in Afghanistan.
Although the nearly $2 million program has now been canceled as a result of unfavorable publicity, Military Reporters and Editors has serious concerns about how and why it was implemented and how widespread it was. We believe that a Congressional inquiry is warranted in order to determine the program’s true purpose and parameters and how news media coverage of the wars in Afghanistan, and possibly Iraq, could have been influenced as a result.
Those of us who have covered military affairs have known for years that the military has kept unofficial dossiers on reporters to determine their level of competence and the types of stories on which they are likely to report. That is not the issue here.
The issue is that a private contractor, The Rendon Group, was paid to compile these profiles without any government or civilian oversight. This raises the disturbing prospect of this organization manipulating the profiles for political purposes. By controlling which reporters get access to the battlefield, The Rendon Group, in essence, controlled the message coming from it. We believe that comes dangerously close to infringing on the constitutionally guaranteed rights of press freedom.
Military Reporters and Editors has fought long and hard for better access to military units in the field and was at the forefront of the negotiations to implement the embedded reporter system prior to Operation Iraqi Freedom 1. While that system worked well in its initial stages, it has become over-managed and over-bureaucratized. The media have had to deal with frequent imposition of draconian “ground rules” on which we have no input and seek to restrict front-line coverage of the wars or control the tone of that coverage.
We are requesting that the House Armed Services Committee examine the issues raised by the Pentagon’s contract with The Rendon Group and the manner in which this private contractor possibly has unduly influenced coverage of the war. We would also request that your committee investigate whether there has been any similar effort by the services to unnecessarily restrict or control coverage of our troops in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Very Respectfully,
Ron Martz
President, Military Reporters and Editors
