Reporting from the Field, not a Hotel Room Balcony

Hats off to Bill Hemmer, of Fox News, for going out in the "battle zone". Bill Hemmer did his daily report today from Camp Fallujah, outside the Iraqi city of Fallujah. As most know it is one of the hot spots in Iraq, located about fifty miles west of Baghdad. For some time now one of the major complaints from readers and viewers is that they (MSM) are not reporting fairly and are reporting from the comforts of their hotel balconies not in the field. When the War in Iraq started three years ago, it started with "embedded" reporters with the units going in to Iraq, giving live reports and updates about the march to Baghdad. However, since the fall of Saddam and his capture, most reporters do not go out with the soldiers on the ground. Although the reporters are free to go out with the troops, they would rather tell a partial story as relaid to them by other sources.

What most media's use for their reports are file footage, mostly from the invasion in 2003, which if taken for truth would implie that the soldiers are at war all the time. However, according to US Army Captain Dan Sukman, there are times that there is very little to do except sit around and watch DVDs. Yes, the troops still go out and patrol, but now they patrol with the Iraqi Police and soldiers. More and more of the patrolling functions are being done by the Iraqi's not the American soldiers. Captain Sukman has a Daily Diary that is published on the Fox News website. Sukman tries to bring forth a true light about what is taking place in Iraq by telling it from a soldiers view point and answering emails that are sent to him from viewers and readers.

In fact according to Captain Sukman, footage from or for the latest action "Operation Swarmer" was actually taken from the file footage from Operation Iraqi Freedom I. He stated that this was a major air assault, but what you saw in the pictures and on the media was tanks and trucks. Capt. Sukman sounded off with his displeasure that more live reports from reporters within the units is not now taking place.

But back to the hats off to Fox News reporter Bill Hemmer. For months now we (Bloggers) have been urging reporters to get off their rumps and go where the action is. The reporting is much more factual and accountable when this is done, plus you get to hear it from the troops themselves. Not really what Sen. Murtha would want you to believe. Grant it, there will still be the left twist on the reporting, but at least it will be LIVE and not second hand as passed down from God knows what kind of source. Fox has again stepped up where other News reporting sources have fallen off. Thanks to Captain Sukman for his Diary and to Fox for going the extra mile to bring you fair and balanced reporting. Wake up MSM, or you will become as the dinosaurs, EXTINCT.