Gen. Meade Would be Proud
What to do about inaccurate reporting from unapologetic reporters.
Let’s start off by acknowledging the obvious. Not all reporters are equal, and not all news organizations have the same standards. And it’s fine and dandy to say let the chips fall where they may and let the public, the “news consumer,” decide who’s doing a good job, but if you have ever been the victim of sloppy inaccurate news reporting, you can understand why the Pentagon might try to give coveted “embed” slots to journalists they respect and admire, as apposed to those who they think are agenda-driven weasels.
Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman emphatically denies that any decisions about embedding reporters are based on a review of their past work. “That’s not taking place,” Whitman tells Line of Departure.
SEE: Journalists’ recent work examined before embeds – Stars and Stripes
It’s not a new problem. Take Civil War Gen. George Gordon Meade, for example. He endured a year of bad press belittling his leadership at Gettysburg, so when the Philadelphia Inquirer’s Edward Crapsey, a reporter from his home state, wrote a story charging Meade with bungling yet another opportunity to destroy Robert E. Lee’s army, the general demanded to know the basis of the “slander”.
Crapsey, in good reporter tradition, refused to divulge his sources. In retribution Gen. Meade ordered him arrested, and paraded as a libeler. I’m sure some of today’s commanders would like to issue an order like this one:
[GENERAL ORDERS.] HDQRS. ARMY OF THE POTOMAC, June 7, 1864.
Edward Crapsey, a correspondent of the Philadelphia Inquirer, having published in that journal of the 2d instant a libelous statement on the commanding general of this army calculated to impair the confidence of the army in their commanding officer, and which statement the said Crapsey has acknowledged to have been false, and to have been based on some idle camp rumor, it is hereby ordered that he be arrested and paraded through the lines of the army with a placard marked “libeler of the press,” and that he be then put without the lines and not permitted to return.
The commanding general trusts that this example will deter others from committing like offenses, and he takes this occasion to notify the representatives of the public press that, whilst he is ready at all times to extend to them every facility for acquiring facts and giving circulation to the truth, he will not hesitate to punish with the utmost rigor all instances like the above where individuals take advantage of the privileges accorded to them to circulate falsehood and thus impair the confidence which the public and army should have in their generals and other officers.
By command of Major-General Meade:
S. WILLIAMS,
Assistant Adjutant-General
Edward Crapsey’s editors appealed to President Lincoln who restored
the reporter’s credentials and directed that he be permitted to
rejoin the Army of the Potomac as an “embedded” journalist. And
Meade’s temper-tantrum, however well-justified, (and historians
say he was portrayed unfairly by the press) backfired spectacularly.Edward Crapsey, a correspondent of the Philadelphia Inquirer, having published in that journal of the 2d instant a libelous statement on the commanding general of this army calculated to impair the confidence of the army in their commanding officer, and which statement the said Crapsey has acknowledged to have been false, and to have been based on some idle camp rumor, it is hereby ordered that he be arrested and paraded through the lines of the army with a placard marked “libeler of the press,” and that he be then put without the lines and not permitted to return.
The commanding general trusts that this example will deter others from committing like offenses, and he takes this occasion to notify the representatives of the public press that, whilst he is ready at all times to extend to them every facility for acquiring facts and giving circulation to the truth, he will not hesitate to punish with the utmost rigor all instances like the above where individuals take advantage of the privileges accorded to them to circulate falsehood and thus impair the confidence which the public and army should have in their generals and other officers.
By command of Major-General Meade:
S. WILLIAMS,
Assistant Adjutant-General
In reaction Crapsey and his colleagues credited all subsequent Union victories to Meade’s superiors Gen. Ulysses Grant, while attributing any Union defeats to Meade.
As tempting as it may seem, any attempt to control a free press is bound to be counterproductive. Let’s hope a modern day Lincoln, thinks better of the U.S. Army’s reported plan to limit embedded reporters to those who please the generals.
Special thanks to Leonard J. Fullenkamp; Professor, Military History & Strategy, U.S. Army War College, Carlisle Barracks, Pennsylvania who taught me all this on a recent visit to the Gettysburg Battlefield Memorial.
Comments (8)
You might not want to do this to iBooks or any other laptop that dissipates heat through the keyboard.
I don't know how many (or if) non-iBook laptops do this, good idea to check though.
I don't know how many (or if) non-iBook laptops do this, good idea to check though.
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RJ · 276 weeks ago
This and any glad wrap also make a great emergency sterile dressing for
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The wonderful things you learn from wilderness first aid training.
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Good post Jamie, but one takeout:
In reaction Crapsey and his colleagues credited all subsequent Union victories to Meade’s superiors Gen. Ulysses Grant, while attributing any Union defeats to Meade.
Let's hope the modern day journalist behaves better than their forebears!
In reaction Crapsey and his colleagues credited all subsequent Union victories to Meade’s superiors Gen. Ulysses Grant, while attributing any Union defeats to Meade.
Let's hope the modern day journalist behaves better than their forebears!
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Jim Garamone · 198 weeks ago
And Meade was a wimp compared to Sherman. He had absolutely no use for
reporters and their ilk, and tried to banish all from the Army of the
Tennessee. Guess we never learn.
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Jamie McIntyre · 198 weeks ago
Mideast Stars And Stripes
August 25, 2009
Pg. 2
Corrections
An Aug. 24 Page 1 headline mischaracterized the way the Pentagon screens the portfolios of reporters embedded in Afghanistan. The screenings are performed after embeds have been granted, the military says, and it has not denied embeds based on the screenings.
August 25, 2009
Pg. 2
Corrections
An Aug. 24 Page 1 headline mischaracterized the way the Pentagon screens the portfolios of reporters embedded in Afghanistan. The screenings are performed after embeds have been granted, the military says, and it has not denied embeds based on the screenings.
Jamie,
Love the article - and the new blog! Well done to you and Ward.
Best regards, Chris Michel
Love the article - and the new blog! Well done to you and Ward.
Best regards, Chris Michel
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S. Hilton · 196 weeks ago
Love your articles, and the new blog, keep up the very good work.
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