Poised for Battle   

New organization offers support for journalists covering the military

In true journalism tradition, the plan to launch the industry's newest professional association was hatched late in the evening in a bar over a few drinks.

Some of the nation's top military journalists, gathered last February at the University of Maryland for a post-9/11 reporting seminar, retreated to a lounge after the sessions. The conversation soon turned to the eternal battle between reporters and the Pentagon. Reporters swapped stories about government restrictions on covering troops in combat, embargoes on publishing basic information about deployments and overbearing public affairs officers. Nearly everyone said the restrictions had gotten worse since the September 11 terrorist attacks.

"The response to everything seemed to be we need to form an association to deal with these issues," says the Seattle Post-Intelligencer's James Wright, an assistant metro editor who oversees military coverage.

The idea of forming a military reporters organization had been floated at journalism conferences for years. But this time--with the war on terrorism raging and another with Iraq looming--the idea stuck. By mid-September, a small group of veteran journalists led by Wright and San Antonio Express-News military writer Sig Christenson made Military Reporters & Editors official.

Their nickname became MRE, playing off the familiar acronym for military food: Meals Ready-to-Eat. On word of mouth alone, people began signing up at the rate of three or four a day and the group is on target to boast at least 100 members by year's end, says Wright, MRE's president. Members, who pay $50 in dues, range from military reporters at national newspapers to local reporters new to the beat and writers covering the armed forces for small, specialized newsletters and Web sites.

"I kind of had a twinge--does the world really need another journalism organization?" says Wright. "But after seeing it fall together, I think we do." Many of the more seasoned enlistees say they joined to form a united front to fight the Pentagon for better access. But other members are among a new generation of reporters assigned to the often-intimidating military affairs beat after the September 11 terrorist attacks reignited interest in military and war coverage.

Those newer to the trade were looking for advice on covering everything from a war zone to features about the local military base. "There are a lot of smaller newspapers out there who are creating or reviving a military beat," Wright says. "People are coming into these beats, and they are looking for information on how to do it, and it's not there."

MRE plans to hold its first national conference, "Covering the Next War: Iraq," November 15 and 16 in Washington, D.C. Organizers hope for at least 50 participants and 20 panelists. Planned session topics range from how-to lessons for reporters covering the military to seminars geared toward what would happen if and when U.S. troops attack Iraq.

One issue MRE might take up is the Pentagon's ban on using last names of military personnel deployed overseas in the war on terrorism. The policy, which results in soldiers being identified as Sgt. Tim or Marine Capt. Patricia in stories, is one restriction war zone reporters find particularly galling.

Dave Moniz, a military reporter for USA Today, says the government has legitimate reasons to withhold certain information. But no one monitors when Pentagon officials cross the line and establish policies that deny the public basic factual information, he says. "All of us have experienced some level of frustration with the military over the last year," says Moniz, MRE's vice president.

U.S. Department of Defense officials defend the restrictions on the press as necessary to protect national security. In a statement issued in response to MRE's formation in September, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs Bryan Whitman said the military is making efforts to balance the desire of journalists to witness missions in combat zones with other pressing factors.

"We are committed to providing the greatest access possible to journalists, but we are also charged with ensuring that we do not needlessly endanger the troops we send into harm's way or compromise the success of our operations," Whitman said in the statement.

On the home front, local military reporters say they deal with some of the same access issues as their colleagues overseas. Post-9/11, John Diedrich, military writer for Colorado Springs' Gazette, says he regularly learned about military deployments from unofficial sources, but when he called military public affairs officers for confirmation, he sometimes got nothing.

Diedrich says access can be a battle. Even his readers question whether the press has too much freedom and whether his stories are "helping the war effort." One of the first reporters to sign on with MRE, Diedrich says it may finally be time for military journalists to educate each other and speak with one voice. "It was a pretty lonely beat here for a while, until 9/11 happened," he says. "I think what we found here is there are some things we have in common and need to communicate not only to the Pentagon, but to the public."