Maritime Morning - Andrew Krystal

John Sculley is the intrepid journalist who has written Am I Dead Yet? He has visited 35 war zones and 71 countries, has suffered innumerable death threats and has actually experienced the rather distinct pleasure of being lined up for execution in El Salvador.

 John Sculley has had guns in his face at least four times. Once upon a time a Serbian gunman even put a shotgun in his gut and pulled the trigger. Sadly, for the miscounting gunman, it was out of shells. The gunman grunted and moved on.

On my broadcast today, John Sculley lamented the fact that the media does not tell the truth — because it is easier not to, cozier even. The case in point to which he refers is the animal known as the “embedded” reporter. This creature lives at the behest of its masters and goes where the military goes, is fed by the military hand, does not bite it, sleeps in warm blankets in warm tents that the military provides, and is a cheery, willing propaganda arm for the most part. The books that are inevitably excreted by such on-the-scene “journalists” are easy to spot, easy to write, and easier to put down.

The constant retort to those who impugn the perspective of the embedded/in bed reporter is “Well, have you been there?” In other words, because they went to Afghanistan and you didn’t, that you don’t know the real story and that they do. This is a lie.

The “embedded” reporters are only seeing the Afghanistan that they want to see, and they are only seeing the Afghanistan that the military and the government wants them to see, and that they want you to see, hear, and read about. It is spin on location.

Are you really going to go stay with the military in Afghanistan and tell them they are losing, that they are misguided, that the strategy is wrong and that they should get out? I don’t think so.

When you play ball with the military you also get better access, and appear to be a “team player,” as it is much easier to praise the military mission and execution under the rubric of “supporting the troops.” It is always the easy way.

Whom would you rather trust? On one side we have journalists who have never broken a nail and who were only peripherally (if at all) under fire, and who were only fed what the chaperone gave him, or journalists like John Sculley who have had had guns in their face — people who have never had field Nannies.

Scully says Afghanistan is a loser and we should get the hell out. So do many international relations experts who have not been there in the visceral sense, but know the history and the geopolitical dimensions of the region.

You don’t need to lie under the tracks to discover that a train is coming — a train whose bar car is filled with coiffed and coddled journalists who perform as government acolytes in their wonderfully groomed capacity to ass-kiss.