[Basetrack] is an experimental media project, tracking the deployment of 1/8 – 1st Battalion, Eighth Marines, throughout the duration of their deployment to southern Afghanistan. A small team of mobile media operators is embedded with the battalion, transmitting their reports and reflections from Helmand province as they travel across the battalion’s area of operations.
posted by nushustu on Mar 18, 2011 - 1 comment

War vs. Democracy: Untold Stories from the Lynch / Tillman Hearing -- ...U.S. soldiers whose injuries or deaths remain mired in secrecy. Pat Tillman's brother and fellow Army Ranger Kevin Tillman advocated strongly for other families still waiting for answers. ... "The family was told, it was -- quote -- 'an ambush by insurgents.' Two years later, they found out that those -- quote -- 'insurgents' happened to be the same Iraqi troops that he was training. Before his death, he told his chain of command that these same troops that he was training were trying to kill him and his team. He was told to keep his mouth shut." ... Thorough and eye-opening examination of the many ways the military spun, lied, withheld information on soldier deaths and injuries for propaganda purposes (and even delayed action until cameras were present in the Jessica Lynch rescue).
posted by amberglow on May 12, 2007 - 29 comments

Arguing the ceremony is only for the families, newly-elected Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper has forbidden the media from attending today's arrival of the remains of four Canadian soldiers killed in action in Afghanistan. Mr. Harper has also declined to lower the flag on Parliament Hill to half-staff. Defence Minister Gordon O'Connor, retired soldier and former lobbyist for various defense contracting firms, says his government is returning to the tradition of honouring dead soldiers on November 11, Remembrance Day. Meanwhile, residents of the northern aboriginal community of Kashechawan, plagued by flooding and drinking water problems, are being evacuated, after government promises to repair a dike went unfulfilled. God Bless Canada.
posted by docgonzo on Apr 25, 2006 - 57 comments

Don't Bomb Us. In response to credible reports that Bush wanted to bomb al-Jazeera's HQ in allied Qatar (discussed here and here on MeFi), Al Jazeera staffers start their own English-language blog. Their site contains remembrances of their fallen colleagues, firsthand accounts of US attacks on their offices, links to relevant reports on the controversy, Flickr photosets of protests calling for an official investigation, and al Jazeera's code of ethics. Also, a quick note to Tony Blair: " P.S. Thanks for talking Mr. Bush out of bombing our offices!" Not surprisingly, their blog is generating some comments.
posted by edverb on Nov 26, 2005 - 117 comments

In 2001 America destroyed the Kabul offices of al-Jazeera with two smartbombs; officials said it was an accident. In 2003 America destroyed the Baghdad offices of al-Jazeera with missiles; officials said it was an accident. Now, two British civil servants are on trial for leaking a memo revealing that Bush intended to bomb al-Jazeera... at their headquarters in allied Qatar.
posted by Pretty_Generic on Nov 22, 2005 - 155 comments

From reporter to relief worker in Afghanistan. An astonishing documentary, Life After War, follows NPR correspondant turned relief worker Sarah Chayes as she struggles to help rebuild a rural Afghani village destroyed in the war. Here is an article she wrote expressing her frustrations with the American media post-9/11 and describing how and why she made this drastic life change. Her organization is Afghans for Civil Society.
posted by callmejay on May 5, 2004 - 4 comments

New US paper aims at Afghan war truth What do you do when you are fed up with the biased and slanted coverage that the major news organizations are giving the "war on terroirsm"? Start your own newspaper of course.
"A newspaper aimed at providing news of the war in Afghanistan is to be launched this month. Its editors argue that the mainstream media in the US are not providing a full picture of the war and its effects. "
posted by futureproof on Apr 5, 2002 - 25 comments

Afghanistan looks at itself:

Q: So if I brought you free films but they weren't about fighting, would you show them?
A: No.

A moving photo-essay on rebuilding Afghanistan's media sources.
posted by modge on Feb 22, 2002 - 5 comments

Are war reporters manufacturing a picture of a failing war effort? Slate's William Saletan makes some interesting points. Reporters get frustrated simply reporting the same stuff each day -- they want news. With the current rarity of dramatic events in Afghanistan, Saletan suggests, media outlets are growing impatient, and letting their "professional biases" distort the picture they present. (Shucks. If only Bin Laden had tried to escape in a white Ford Bronco....)
posted by mattpfeff on Nov 1, 2001 - 27 comments

Will pictures like this [not graphic, but disturbing] turn popular support against the bombing in Afghanistan? Or will stories like this bolster support for military action against the Taliban? What story sways you more?
posted by gazingus on Oct 24, 2001 - 57 comments