Independence Day and Independent Journalism

This Independence Day we need independent journalism more than ever – as the events leading up to and immediately following the recent resignation of General Stanley McChrystal demonstrate anew. Why was it left to an independent journalist, Michael Hastings of Rolling Stone, to tell us important facts about our military’s people, practices and policies in Afghanistan — facts that the mainstream media’s deeply dependent and addicted to access Pentagon and Afghanistan “beat” reporters never would and never will, facts crucial to any citizen wanting to make an informed democratic decision about our country’s ongoing presence in Afghanistan? The MSM reporters, it turns out, are more than happy to explain. They have, you must understand, an “unspoken agreement” with the people they cover on our behalf, an agreement NOT TO TELL the rest of us certain things.

Appearing on CNN’s Reliable Sources program, Hastings explained to host Howard Kurtz how truly independent journalists function:

KURTZ: You don’t think it’s likely that McChrystal and his team assume that some of their joking, that some of their banter would be treated by you as off the record?

HASTINGS: I think you’d have to ask General McChrystal and his team what they assumed. But for me, when I go in to write a profile, and no ground rules are laid down, and I’m there to write an on-the-record profile and cover readings while in the room, then that means it’s on the record. I mean, it’s not much of a mystery. If someone tells you something is off the record, I don’t print it. If they don’t tell me something is off the record, then it’s fair game.

Hastings also did a good job of explaining how dependent journalists play the access game:

HASTINGS: There’s a reason why when General McChrystal took the job, everyone writes a glowing profile of him, because then that assures access later on. And that assures better — if you ever write a favorable story, they’ll get better access later. And that was a game General McChrystal’s team played very well, that if you get — that if you write us a good story, we’ll give you good access.

They gave unprecedented access to everybody. You know, they let — you know, debriefings. They let you hang out with them. And they try to make you feel like you’re part of the team. But that’s an illusion. You’re really part of the team. You know? And they know that and you know that. You’re a journalist. You’re there to tell — you’re there to tell it like it is. I’m sort of shocked — or a bit surprised that –

KURTZ: You’re saying that in your view, journalists who are going to be covering these guys regularly, covering the war, wrote puff pieces for the express purpose of being able to get more inside stuff, more access from the general and his top officials?

HASTINGS: Absolutely. And I don’t think that’s exclusive just to General McChrystal and the reporters covering him.

Later in that same program, CBS News chief foreign correspondent Lara Logan was asked by Kurtz if there is some sort of “unspoken agreement that you’re not going to embarrass [the troops] by reporting insults and banter.”

“Absolutely,” Logan replied. “Yes… there is an element of trust.”

Jamie McIntyre, CNN’s Senior Pentagon and Military Affairs Correspondent from 1992 to 2008, backed Logan’s contention on his blog, and spoke of beat reporters “dirty little secret.”

“I have another theory based on my 16 years of traveling with senior defense officials and military officers,” McIntyre said in his post. “Gen. McChrystal might have been under the misimpression Hastings would protect him, in return for the great access and candor…The dirty little secret among beat reporters who routinely travel with top military officials is that there’s a unwritten code, a general understanding, that off-color jokes, irreverent banter, and casual conversations are generally off-the-record, or on the deepest of background, unless otherwise agreed upon.” So why, McIntyre asked, “would reporters protect senior military officers from what could be career-ending self-inflicted wounds? One word, ‘access.’ Access now, and even more importantly access later.”