Hardly a week goes by that we don’t hear from readers who think we tell too much about military ship or troop movements, especially in light of the buildup for a possible invasion of Iraq.
Like the reader whose e-mail (Header: “What are you guys doing”) urged us to “Stop saying where they’re going, who’s going and for how long. Some things shouldn’t be told.”
Said another reader: “Why don’t you take the information . . . and e-mail it to Saddam?”
There’s a flip side to these complaints: We also hear from readers — mostly spouses, other relatives and friends of military personnel on deployment — who thank us for our coverage. Especially that generated by military reporter Dennis O’Brien, who has been reporting from aboard the Kearsarge, part of the Hampton Roads-based Amphibious Task Force East. It’s a seven-ship, 12,000-troop group now in the Mediterranean.
These admittedly information-starved readers almost gush in their appreciation of O’Brien’s coverage. “There is nothing that is too mundane for us to read about,” said one. “It is wonderful to have any news regarding this trip.”
One camp of readers is saying, in essence, shut up; the other, tell me more.
Carl Fincke, our Military Team leader, understands both sentiments. Both lines of thinking are considered in planning our military buildup coverage.
Says Fincke: “We feel an obligation to tell readers as much as we can as soon as we can — as long as we are not putting our troops in danger.” He doesn’t think we have jeopardized their safety.
“We try to find out information about deployments through our own reporting, but there are many instances when we do not publish information until the Navy feels it is appropriate,” he says. That’s because we are sensitive to deployment information.
At times “we have pushed the Navy on these issues, and have run some information before they released it, but again, nothing that would endanger troops,” Fincke adds.
For example, we reported a day or two before the Navy made it official that the carrier Theodore Roosevelt battle group would be leaving on a certain date for a training exercise.
Some readers are particularly skittish — and understandably so — when The Virginian-Pilot publishes (as it did a couple of weeks ago) a comprehensive chart listing deployed ships and troops from Hampton Roads and the general vicinity of their current location.
The information, Fincke notes, was obtained from the Navy. “We were just pulling together in one place bits of information we had reported over the past several months.”
The paper was criticized recently for an O’Brien story about the Mount Whitney, a Norfolk-based amphibious command ship operating off the Horn of Africa. In fact, the story was solicited by the vessel’s public affairs folks.
“They called us and helped set up a series of phone interviews,” Fincke says. “They want the publicity; they want people to know about the job they’re doing.”
O’Brien is “embedded,” as the Pentagon put it, living with a unit around the clock, indefinitely. Our goal in having O’Brien there is twofold, Fincke says: “To get a unique, inside look at an amphibious task force as it prepares for a possible war, and to have a chance to report from the front lines should a war happen.”
Every story O’Brien writes is reviewed by the military. So far, no changes have been requested. “Our understanding is that the material is being reviewed for security reasons only,” Fincke says. “Were Dennis to write something critical or unflattering of the Navy, that should not be censored.
“Dennis has a pretty good idea of what he can and can’t say security-wise, since he is a former Marine, having served in the Persian Gulf in 1991.”
What if reviewers wanted to censor an O’Brien story?
We’d have to consider such requests individually, Fincke says. “If we felt the changes were cosmetic,” he explains, “we might protest, push the issue, and if we lost, run a note with the story saying it had been censored. If the changes were more dramatic, we might opt not to run the story at all.”
In the immediate wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, the military was especially leery of personal information on military personnel (full names, hometowns, etc.) or their relatives being published. Concerns have since eased, however.
The Pilot likes to give complete information, sometimes even mentioning the names of spouses and children.
This “helps readers connect with the stories,” Fincke says. “They know the subjects are real people, they live right here in our cities, and might even be a neighbor.
“Right now, the sailors, Marines and pilots willingly give us the information. They are proud of what they’re doing and I think they like the recognition.”
