Mention the war? Say it with flowers

Britain is involved in two major wars – most people realise that. But how serious is the press attention given to these conflicts which are perhaps the most significant since WWII?

In the Scottish media, the coverage is questionable to say the least. The Guardian, proudly republican and revelling in its position as a quality title that is prepared to expose the flaws of the establishment might give coverage to some of the negatives like Hamid Karzai criticising British troops. In Scotland, lacking such a voice, you could be forgiven for thinking that those comments were never made.

Nowhere is this more evident than in the officially politically non-aligned Herald. It’s defence correspondent Ian Bruce, a former squaddie, seems to confine his coverage to crunching numbers from press releases or publishing “exclusives” gifted to him from various regiments with axes to grind about increasing demands and diminishing resources. Experience as a soldier might well be useful in knowing your terrorists from your territorials but Bruce and The Herald have not delivered a meaningful story on the wars that go so far to define our country’s international position in living memory.

Worse, however, was the placing of a clear piece of military PR in Saturday’s edition. Claiming that “We spent a week with the Scots Guards who could be deployed to Afghanistan next year”, The Herald ran a piece by Lalage Snow, describing war games and the emotions of the “boys” who could be heading out to war.

What the paper failed to highlight was that Lalage Snow actually gets a proportion of her income from the MoD. Her entry on the Lightstalkers website reads as follows:

Lalage Snow has recently completed a Masters of Arts degree in Photojournalism and Documentary Photography at LCC (Distinction) but also works on an ad hoc basis for AFP and British Army, IPC Media titles, Glasgow Herald, the Guardian and private clients. She has lived and worked in Bangladesh, Argentina, Paris and the Middle East. She is, of course, available for work.

Her picture caption is seen on a recent MoD article on its own website.

Snow’s blog describes her exploits and gives some clue to her qualities as a journalist. The following is cut-and-pasted:

We won again and then kicked about in the grass waiting for the helicopters to take us back to MPC on East Island.

As soon as we took off I was off in a world of my own. You see, and I think this is how soldiers see it, when you live in such close quarters, personal space becomes secondary so you snatch it whereever you can - even if it is only defined by noise. All I could hear were blades and engines and so I was off, floating from Dhaka to Paris to home in France to school to paranoid delusions. Little wonder then that after a shower (during which I realised that cam cfream had become ingrained beneath the paperlike skin now covering my face due to wind and sun, and that untill it peeled (nice), my youthful exuberance (ahem) would be marked by thin green, brown and black lines. And no, it was far too painful to scrub), I fell fast asleep for a very long time.

Tumbledown, as i said happened the next day, after which there was a parade through Stanley. Which, by the way, is not unlie devon, except everything is build of wood or metal, rather than stone. Found the national newpsper too.

On lookers were stopped in their tracks by the pipes and quite a croud gathered. A few of stayed on in the globe, a bar highly decorated with UK flags, all signed by serving soldiers over the years.

Next few days were intermitently spent writing and editing for the G Herald and sourcing info and quotes. Followed by a platoon party (as in the film, platoon). I went as.... yep, a war photographer. not that there IS one in the film as far as I recall, but still. Nearly a week later and I am still getting the sodding cam cream off (i was attacked). Oh, and I had a cylume (that glow in the dark glow stick gel) fight with a sergeant. Got to bed as it got light then carried on for breakfast. And lunch. and As supper came and went foundmyself back in the mess supping on G and T's. Back to the illegal bar till the small hours again before finally awaking in the afternoon. Nice. Havent been that wild since being a teenager at univeristy. Crikey.

Still, when in Rome...(or hanging out with soldiers).

Did the Glasgow Herald pay for this? Or was it supplied by the MoD? Where exactly does the line between reporting and propaganda now lie? And does a newspaper claiming 225 years of “fearless journalism” still have a duty to distinguish between the two?

Travel writers often get free trips, ostensibly as it would be impossible to write about a country or resort without visiting it. People accept that this is also a chance to be very nice to the writer who will then compile a review.

Product reviewers tend to get a harder time – they are commonly given use of a high value item to test with the understanding that a review written in return for £2000 of audio equipment is worse than useless to a reader.

The embedding of journalists became a much more profound issue. Those with military units got the stories along with the protection and scrutiny of hundreds of armed troops. Some of the others were killed in friendly fire incidents. Maybe it’s a coincidence that as the casualties amongst journalists have decreased, so the level of incisive investigative reporting has diminished.

In using copy from someone known to be in the pay of the MoD for such a trivial feature, The Herald has not so much crossed the line as allowed itself to be transported over it.