Page 9 - War Reporting News Today

Family. [inaudible] [shouting] >> shepard: steve harrigan has witnessed war zones around this globe in decades of war reporting. at the top of this newscast he explained he has never seen anything like this. >> usually wars, you can figure out. here is the front line or here is where they are going to attack. you dont figure they are going to attack retirees, women and children in a village and thats what they did today. and we almost bought it because we were where i thought was safe. but its n...

Seneca chief in the 1740s and 1750s who caused a lot of problems. he started the french/indian war. >> partly makes sense because of you and this propensity to go to war the way you write about it, the way you want to go spend time in it. what was it that attracted you? >> people talk about the adrenaline rush and war reporting. i think a lot of it is being scared. being in danger is a miserable experience. the real thrill comes from participating in world events and feeling necessary, like you ...

Directions on these hills. >> war reporting is as old as war itself, and for journalists covering the wars in iraq and afghanistan its as dangerous as ever. in 2008, nbc news richard engel t networks chief foreign correspondent, heads to afghanistan to report the story of soldiers based at restrepo. >> we didnt know what we were going to find. we wend to the valley which at the time was the most dangerous place in afghanistan. so we knew we would see action, we would see combat. >> engel and his...

dirty and wet. firemen or someone found it several hundred feet that way. we tonight know where the flag pole is, but at least we have the flag so im grateful for that. with our smartphone app. you name it, were here, anytime, anywhere, any way you want it. thats the way i need it. any way you want it. [ man ] all night? all night. every night? any way you want it. thats the way i need it. we just had ourselves a little journey moment there. yep. [ man ] saw em in 83 in fresno. place w...

Journalists who report the truth fight for independence. >> brutal on both sides. its a powerful argument for it was getting back out that i independent war reporting. was injured. >> have you ever had a chance to as we were crossing the field they opened fire. talk to your dad about how he felt about bringing about a flares go up. change, perhaps saving thousands of lives as a consequence of what he did? that is just terrifying. >> i remember i guess it was 30 i hit the ground. >> in the dark o...

>> oliver: in the wake of vietnam war everything changed. >> the military man said later on never before in the history of war reporting has a group of correspondents by constant distortion and lies and emphasis centered upon their own countrys army. >> oliver: the days of total access and free movement for journalists were gone. 1983 grenada. journalists are barred from the island until three days after the invasion. 1990, iraq invades kuwait. >> loot of it appears like a video game. you see ai...

Willingness of two journalists to report the truth makes a powerful argument for war reporting. >> did you have a chance to talk to your dad how he felt about perhaps saving thousands of lives as a consequence of what he did? >> i remember i guess it was 30 years later after the event he was telling me how he was still heavily criticized in britain by the military establishment but how he himself was completely at peace with his conscience. >> oliver: more deadlines on the battle field when "war...

>> with the u.n. preparing to >> news of disaster didnt make leave their last compound marie it immediately into the made her stand. newspapers. >> i am afraid at that point i >> this was not war reporting to the public. dont work for the sunday times. i had the only line of technically breech of the communication. i am going to talk to everybody censorship rules but it was only and are you still a journalist. really reporting to the what mattered more to me if the political masses. u.n. evacuat...

Ok, guys-- whats next ? >> in the wake of the vietnam war everything changed. >> the military said later on never before in the history of war reporting has a group of correspondents by constant distortion and lies turned upon their own country army and cost them the war.

The telegraph. people could read about what happened yesterday rather than what happened two weeks ago. newspapers realized there was an enormous hunger out there. >> war cells. during the civil war 600 reporters converged on the carra karnage. they put 63 men in the field and spent nearly $1 million. those were 1860s dollars. matthew brady captured the agony of the civil war and sold pictures directly to an eager public starved for information. photographs didnt become a regular fixture in news...