« Admin Update | Main | It's Official: Chester takes 4th Place in Spirit of America Blogger Challenge »

January 18, 2005

MAJOR CONTENT ANNOUNCEMENT - The Whole Truth Series

Did you already see this? Lieutenant Colonel Tim Ryan takes the press to task for its poor and lopsided coverage of events in Iraq:

Just read yet another distorted and grossly exaggerated story from a major news organization about the "failures" in the war in Iraq. Print and video journalists are covering only a small fraction of the events in Iraq and more often than not, the events they cover are only the bad ones. Many of the journalists making public assessments about the progress of the war in Iraq are unqualified to do so, given their training and experience. The inaccurate picture they paint has distorted the world view of the daily realities in Iraq. The result is a further erosion of international public support for the United States' efforts there, and a strengthening of the insurgents' resolve and recruiting efforts while weakening our own. Through their incomplete, uninformed and unbalanced reporting, many members of the media covering the war in Iraq are aiding and abetting the enemy.

How does this make you feel? Disagree? Knew as much all along?

Well, it made this blogger angry. Call it a well-worded straw to break the camel's back. Read the whole post. I have received several emails just like this one. Some I've posted on the site here. Each tells a story you don't read in the papers or see on the news. Maybe a story of heroism, or of successful interaction with the locals, or a critique of a media article by someone who was there and saw the way it went down.

So, today The Adventures of Chester announces The Whole Truth Series. Here's how it works:

If you are in the US military and in Iraq, and have:

1. Witnessed an event that is notable, but not reported;
2. Been interviewed by a reporter, yet feel he didn't quite get it right;
3. Been present at a reported event, and have quite a different take on it than was reported;
4. Had someone in your unit awarded a Silver Star or higher for valor;

. . . then this is the series for you. Email what really happened to Chester, and include a link to any news stories you reference, or at least a headline and date, or a citation excerpt if a decoration was awarded. Be specific: who was there, what went wrong, what went right, etc. Don't just send emails with general comments like, "Everything is going great here! The media is horrible." We want details.

Let's see what other stories are out there . . . The Adventures of Chester will compile and publish weekly.

FAQ

Q: Chester, how will you know you aren't being sent made-up stories?
A: You'd be surprised how smart the blogosphere is. Someone will probably figure it out. I'll be the initial filter.

Q: Chester, doesn't Arthur Chrenkoff already do this?
A: Not quite. He rounds up published news stories that slip under the radar -- and does an excellent job. I'm not out to best him or compete. This series should be complimentary to his.

Q: Chester, what if nobody writes you?
A: Then we'll give it another week. Might take a bit to get the word out, so if you want to link to this post or email it, feel free.

Q: Chester, what's in this for you?
A: The same thing for you: Victory! I want to know if we are winning against the terrorists.

As is said on the rifle range, "Don't be afraid to make bold adjustments." So here is one for The Adventures of Chester. Let's see what happens.

UPDATE: As an Alert Commenter noted, LTC Ryan's thoughts were picked up by Drudge today, and his article is published in The World Tribune as well. The Tribune article carries an added paragrah by LTC Ryan:

Postscript: I have had my staff aggressively pursue media coverage for all sorts of events that tell the other side of the story only to have them turned down or ignored by the press in Baghdad. Strangely, I found it much easier to lure the Arab media to a "non-lethal" event than the western outlets. Open a renovated school or a youth center and I could always count on Al-Iraqia or even Al-Jazeera to show up, but no western media ever showed up ever. Now I did have a pretty dangerous sector, the Abu Ghuraib district that extends from western Baghdad to the outskirts of Fallujah (not including the prison), but it certainly wasn't as bad as Fallujah in November and there were reporters in there.

UPDATE 2: Here is an example of the kinds of things in mind for this series, received in email over the past few weeks. From a Marine gunnery sergeant in Anbar Province, Iraq:

As you know, I asked for toys for the Iraqi children over here and several people (Americans that support us) sent them over by the box.

On each patrol we take through the city, we take as many toys as will fit in our pockets and hand them out as we can. The kids take the toys and run to show them off as if they were worth a million bucks. We are as friendly as we can be to everyone we see, but especially so with the kids. Most of them don't have any idea what is going on and are completely innocent in all of this.

On one such patrol, our lead security vehicle stopped in the middle of the street. This is not normal and is very unsafe, so the following vehicles began to inquire over the radio. The lead vehicle reported a little girl sitting in the road and said she just would not budge. The command vehicle told the lead to simply go around her and to be kind as they did. The street was wide enough to allow this maneuver and so they waved to her as they drove around.

As the vehicles went around her, I soon saw her sitting there and in her arms she was clutching a little bear that we had handed her a few patrols back. Feeling an immediate connection to the girl, I radioed that we were going to stop. The rest of the convoy paused and I got out the make sure she was OK. The little girl looked scared and concerned, but there was a warmth in her eyes toward me. As I knelt down to talk to her, she moved over and pointed to a mine in the road.

Immediately a cordon was set as the Marine convoy assumed a defensive posture around the site. The mine was destroyed in place.

There's no reason why several stories like this one can't be collected into a published piece, either on this site, or by a news organization.

Posted by Chester at January 18, 2005 1:58 AM

Trackback Pings

TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.theadventuresofchester.com/MT/mt-tb.cgi/519

Comments

Posted by: online poker at January 19, 2006 5:03 PM

Posted by: online poker at January 19, 2006 5:03 PM

Posted by: online poker at January 19, 2006 5:03 PM

Posted by: daffodils shoes at January 19, 2006 5:58 PM