TV News
Investigation
National Controversy Fueled By
Embedded News Crew's Video
Hundreds of journalists were embedded with military units during the war on Iraq. It
was the first time in history that a war was so carefully documented by so many
journalists on the front lines with soldiers.
Some of the video shot by a Minnesota TV crew surfaced late in the 2004 presidential
campaign. Some partisans claimed it shed light on how hundreds of tons of explosives
disappeared from Iraq.
377 tons of explosives vanish, bombings flourish in Iraq
Video shot by a crew from KSTP-TV, Minneapolis/St. Paul, may shed light on the dispute
over hundreds of tons of missing munitions.
The New York Times reported 377 tons of high-grade
explosives disappeared from a Iraqi bunkers in the Al-Qaqaa complex. What happened to the
munitions --- and when they were either taken or destroyed --- became an issue in the
presidential election.
A United Nations agency said that it had warned the United States about the
vulnerability of explosives stored at the installation.
The campaign debate intensified when Senator Kerry contended that President Bush had to
take responsibility for the missing explosives.
"You were warned to guard them," said the Democrat.
In turn, the president accused Kerry of jumping to conclusions about the missing
explosives, calling it a dangerous thing for a wartime president to do.
The issue of fairness and partisan politics was discussed by the KSTP managers before
they aired the story.
"The question that was asked and answered very quickly was whether we were far enough
away from the election to allow a reasonable time for response. The answer was, 'yes.' It
was just under a week before the election. There was plenty of time for the president to
respond," said News Director Chris Berg.
| "We had to be extremely careful in what we put
on. We had to make sure of what we had." |
|
Chris Berg
News Director, KSTP-TV |
News crew was embedded
Reporter Dean Staley (now an anchor at Northwest Cable News Channel) and photographer
Joe Caffrey had been embedded with the 101st Airborne Division.
Shortly after the fall of Baghdad, in early April, the unit was camped south of the
Al-Qaqaa complex. A couple of soldiers decided to drive up and look at the complex, and
the two journalists went along.
Subscribers, please go to our
online archives for the rest of the story. Thank you. |
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improvements. archives/0309.htm
Weapons
Of Worry: Missed By Security
Despite the ongoing effort to improve security in the schools and to prevent terrorist
attacks in the public arena, there are weapons that seem to be beyond the current
controls. In Miami, WFOR-TV revealed there are many weapons that can be slipped past
security. archives/0427.htm
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