see
http://www.theatlantic.com/issues/96feb/media/media.htm

Among other things the article discusses a 1980′s PBS TV series on ethics. One of the panel discussions was about moral dilemmas on the battlefield. Military men and journalists had vastly different reactions to the “what-if” questions posed; one of those veered closely to the situation of the journalist referred to above.

When the hypothetical case was “Journalists are given an opportunity to cover a war from the enemy side; they see that the enemy has readied an ambush for US soldiers, and have an opportunity to warn them. Should they?” The journalists all decided that they should keep “covering the story”, and that objective journalism was more important than the lives of their country’s troops. The soldiers were horrified by that choice and one said bitterly that if these same journalists were to be captured or wounded by the enemy “…they would expect American soldiers to run out under enemy fire and drag them back, rather than leaving them to bleed to death on the battlefield.” He agreed that he would indeed do so, it’s his job, but “… that is what makes me so contemptuous of them. Marines will die going to get … a couple of journalists.” (The word “journalists” enunciated with total disgust)

Panelist New Gingrich (also on the panel) at the time said “The military has done a vastly better job of systematically thinking through the ethics of behavior in a violent environment than the journalists have.”

It’s an interesting article.

Back in the last ’69, I was an infantry squad leader in Viet Nam. One day, while we were being resupplied by helicopter out in the bush, a camera crew arrived along with the things we needed.
A while later, our Captain came over to me with the crew in tow and asked me if I wanted to take them out on a patrol I was about to leave on. In one of my proudest moments in the war, I replied, in my New York fashion, with a question, “Do I have to bring them back?” We went out; they didn’t.

I am profoundly uncomfortable with media involvement in combat operations. It’s one more thing to worry about when everyone is chock full of worries already. Nobody goes into a restaurant through the kitchen. Our combat soldiers deserve similar respect. Let them do their jobs. Let the media build their résumés on someone else’s work.

***

As to Mr. Crittendon’s apologia, it seems to me to fit very well that old bureaucratic saw, “where you stand depends on where you sit”. Every time I hear journalism referred to as a profession, I think to myself, “So how come there’s no malpractice insurance”. If my commanding officer sent me to get Mr. Farrell, I would have told him to start the court martial papers.