Not “In-Bed”   

I have to say, I was a little disappointed by the story on embedding (Free Press, February/March). The reporter allowed a critic of the idea to imply that the embedded reporters were wearing police uniforms or dressed like police in some way. This little bit of fiction was first put out by a reporter from Pacifica Radio, but I'm frustrated to find it repeated in American Journalism Review. I was embedded with a Miami Police Department field force. They wore black riot gear with MPD printed in three-inch white letters on their chest shields. I wore a pink T-shirt, khaki pants and a bright yellow traffic vest with "Miami Herald" printed on the front and back of it. No one could have mistaken me for a cop. All Herald reporters and photographers were issued the same vests, and I didn't see any embedded reporters, photographers or cameramen wearing anything but street clothes.

Susannah A. Nesmith
Police reporter
Miami Herald
Miami, Florida