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CNN Saturday Morning News
Relationship Between Media and Military Undergoes a Change
Aired September 29, 2001 - 07:49 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Well, as this new war against terrorism evolves, so too will the relationship between the military and the news media.
Now you remember the bombing over Baghdad. You'll see by these pictures that CNN brought you live, during the first night of the Gulf War. Well, we're not likely to see many, if any pictures like these, from the current anti-terrorism campaign.
But joining us to talk more about this from Washington and the changing dynamics of covering this new war is an expert on both the media and military.
Laird Anderson is a journalism professor at American University. Also, he's a retired Army colonel. Good morning to you, sir.
COL. LAIRD ANDERSON (RET.), U.S. ARMY: Good morning.
PHILLIPS: Well, let's talk about this war on terrorism. And do you think that this war will be all of special operations? And if so, it's going to be pretty difficult to cover it, period, correct?
ANDERSON: Absolutely. There are really two phases to this war. There's the military, diplomatic, political phase, and getting all that together. And then there's the information war. And I call it an information war because we have no idea, all bets are off, on how wars have been covered in the past. And this one is going to be a war of stealth and secret operations and small unit tactics and special operations tactics. And journalists aren't going on those.
PHILLIPS: So you're saying there's no way we're going to see the type of reporting, for example, Walter Cronkite in the ditch with his notebook right next to the soldiers? It's just not going to happen?
ANDERSON: Only if Walter and my colleagues want to infiltrate themselves somehow before the military operations start and link up somehow.
But no, that's not going to happen. And there's not going to be a war of coverage that we saw in the Persian Gulf and certainly not in Vietnam. No, this is going to be a very difficult war for journalists to cover. And I can only hope that somehow, it will be done, because the American public needs all that information.
PHILLIPS: Well, do you think this lack of information, the lack of media involvement, could be a dangerous thing for America?
ANDERSON: Absolutely. I think any lack of information on a war footing, such as this, that doesn't penetrate the American mind, it's open to the government to control. And I think we have to be very careful about that. I hope my colleagues in journalism are going to be more alert to that.
PHILLIPS: Do you have a fear of censorship here?
ANDERSON: Oh, sure I do. One, we have a brand new administration. Colin Powell, Dick Cheney, all these guys, you know, have experience 10 years ago in trying to conduct a war and trying to control a war, but George Bush is a neophyte when it comes to working with a media on something of this magnitude.
And so, we're feeling our way around. It's a kind of a stumbling effort, I think, to finally get the media involved, the press involved in this.
PHILLIPS: Well, now you're a retired Army colonel. You also were involved with the special forces unit.
ANDERSON: That's right.
PHILLIPS: Would you take a journalist with you?
ANDERSON: That's an excellent question. Several years ago, I gave a lecture at the Marine Corps Command at General Staff College and its amphibious war school on media-military relations. And I had asked for some individuals to give me a heads up on how they would conduct this if a journalist was assigned to one of their units.
And I got this wise guy, a Marine major, who gave me kind of a bad comment. He said, "Well, I'd put him at the head of the platoon and hope that he'd get wasted." And I was stunned. And would I, however, as a special forces operative and who commanded a special forces, take a journalist with me? Yes, I would, but I'd have to make darned sure that this guy was ready or this woman was ready physically and had a military knowledge, that I'm not too sure that many reporters have today.
So yes, but, and I use the word but advisedly here, I would have to clear it.
PHILLIPS: Laird Anderson, professor at American University and also a retired Army colonel. Sir, thank you so much for your insight this morning. Very interesting.
ANDERSON: Well, thank you.
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