Non embedded journalism is a no-no

Phil Smucker, a reporter for the Christian Science Monitor, has run into trouble with the Pentagon because he never signed up for their embedded journalists program. He's allegedly been detained by the military for relaying too much information in an on-air interview with CNN.

Pentagon spokeswoman Torie Clarke said she is looking into the report but could not confirm that Smucker had been detained. "Our overwhelming experience to date is that people are trying very hard to be very careful, very responsible," she said. "There have been less than a handful of incidents in which someone revealed information they shouldn't."

Yeah, who do these un-embedded journalists think they are!? How dare they try to report information that the Pentagon doesn't think should be reported.

The CSM editor, Paul Van Slambrouck, explains that "Smucker's work in the Monitor is not at issue, but we have read the transcript of the CNN interview and it does not appear to us that he disclosed anything that wasn't already widely available in maps and in US and British radio, newspaper, and television reports in that same news cycle. Of course, the Pentagon has the final say in the field about any threat the information reported might pose."

(via mousemusings)