(2003-12-20) — Reporters at local TV stations are “not ready” for the direct news feed service (dubbed C-SPAN Baghdad) announced by the Bush administration yesterday, according to a spokesman for the Institute for Journalistic Standards (IJS).
“If the Pentagon were to feed briefing video directly to local TV stations, bypassing the crucial gatekeepers like CNN and the BBC, local reporters would flounder for lack of context,” said the unnamed IJS source. “How would they know which quotes were important? The major media have actual reporters embedded in Iraqi hotels and briefing rooms on the ground in Baghdad — or at least on the chair, which is on the floor not too far above the ground in Baghdad. They are the experts to whom America turns for context.”
The IJS spokesman also noted that major media reporters earn much more money than most local reporters.
“Who are you going to trust?” he asked rhetorically, “The guy in Toledo who watched the briefing by satellite and only earns 35-grand? Or the six-figure superstar coming to you live from the parking lot of the al-Rashid hotel, moments after actually attending the briefing?”
The Institute for Journalistic Standards enforces consistency among its member reporters and editors.

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