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Cbs - Cbs Correspondent Killed Story At Pentagon's Request

21 February 2006

Courtney Yates (Runner Up). Survivor: China Finale Held At Cbs Television City. Los Angeles, California picture

Caption: Courtney Yates (Runner Up) Survivor: China Finale held at CBS (Picture) Television City Los Angeles, California ....

Cbs Correspondent Killed Story At Pentagon's Request

CBS Pentagon correspondent David Martin acknowledged Monday that he killed a report about how the U.S. was dealing with Improvised Explosive Devices in Iraq after a senior military officer complained that it contained information useful to the enemy. Martin, writing on the CBS blog Public Eye, said that the report had been scheduled to air as the lead story on the CBS Evening News on Thursday and that he pulled it just one hour before airtime. "Not a good career move," he wrote. Martin further acknowledged that he had set aside other stories at the request of the Pentagon "a number of times over the years, and each time it's turned out that going with the story wouldn't have caused any harm." In the latest case, he said, he concluded that his report "might conceivably be news the enemy could use to make their IEDs more effective. It wasn't clear cut, but it was close enough."

21/02/2006

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24th February 2006 19:47 free me (1)

	I am so glad that Bush & his fine appointees are protecting me from terrorists by keeping an ever watchful eye over everthing in our society. I know that they realize I am unable to think for myself. I say thank you and God bless. Now that the goverment realizes that journalists are unable to think I can sleep. Phew - I was wondering when they would get better control over US media! We are entering a New American Century: a fine, upstanding think-tank created by many of the people running our goverment. I value their goal of military domination worldwide. It is so great that we have so many citizens that willingly lap up goverment control and give up their freedoms. If we didn't do this then we would have to have military dominance at home!

23rd February 2006 17:15 alwayshope (1)

	What about the flip side of all this? The Pentagon pays millions of tax dollars to plant stories in newspapers everywhere. Do these harm anyone? Who gets to decide what truth the public has a right to know? Of course we shouldn't put our troops in harm's way, but we shouldn't use that as an excuse to supress stories that would have a negative impact on the viewer. The Vietnam War became unbearable because we saw the body bags, the flag-draped coffins on our TVs and witnessed the horror and cruelty that is war. Today, we find it easier to look away and deny the terrifying landscape of war. I believe it harms us as a people to accept war and torture as a necessary evil. It should be every citizens duty to witness the return of our fallen and grieve for them, to see the consequences of our actions and accept responsibility for them. Journalists must, in the end, make the choice and I will accept that decision. I only ask that they don't kill a story because they think we can't handle the truth. We, "the people", have a lot more courage, soul and wit than we are given credit for by our leaders.

23rd February 2006 05:10 zenful6219 (1)

	The last time I checked, this is still America. Journalists have the right to report the news whether the Bush administration and it's mindless syncophants approve. While I respect Mr. Martin's decision, I urge him to resist the Bush administrations' fascist tendencies and give us the truth. The Democrats know the truth and the truth is we need to be out of Iraq. Our troops need to be redeployed safely outside of Iraq so that they can take care of themselves. Our being in Iraq does nothing to protect freedom or security here at home.