Richard WarnickMalkin Going to Baghdad - Really!
Journalistic wannabe, blogger and Fox News talking head Michelle Malkin is planning to make her reportorial debut in Baghdad, Iraq (she has never worked as a reporter). As mentioned previously, former CNN newsman Eason Jordan of IraqSlogger has invited Malkin to come to Iraq with him to investigate the source of an Associated Press (AP) story.
Like some other radical right-wing bloggers, Malkin challenges the credibility of the AP because they employ local “stringers” who are able to go places where western reporters might be killed or kidnapped. More than a hundred journalists have died in Iraq in the last four years, and many have been wounded.
US Army spokespersons have cast doubt on some of the AP stories covering sectarian violence in Baghdad, although usually they just state that the stories “cannot be confirmed.” What is left unsaid is that the Army is not in the journalism business, and has an obvious vested interest in trying to downplay violent incidents that reflect poorly on American efforts to secure the Iraqi capital.
Michelle Malkin writes:
Over the holidays, my Hot Air colleague Bryan Preston and I received word that our embed applications had been approved. We have been busy preparing our families and ourselves for the journey. Our overarching goals are two-fold:
1) to report on how the troops perceive mainstream media coverage of the war (with a particular focus on the wire services relying on local stringers); and
2) to report on progress and interaction between U.S. troops and Iraqi Army trainees.
… Bryan and I will be heading out to Iraq very shortly as embeds to advance the story and get first-hand the side of the story the AP refuses to hear–the side of the troops on the ground.
Apparently, Malkin just wants to talk to “the troops” and won’t be looking for answers on the streets of Baghdad where the AP gets its news.
UPDATE: Michelle Malkin set off for Iraq on Saturday, January 6. Her blog has been turned over to guest bloggers. I’ll post another article if Malkin writes anything interesting about her trip.