Bob Woodruff

[arkjarhead]

who the heck is this guy? he goes to iraq as a reporter, which i feel he had no business over there in the first place. he gets hurt and becomes an instant hero. how does that work? you have all of those troops over there getting hurt and very few become heros. we just get forgotten about. it really ticks me off. they have this guy and his whole family on oprah. when do the troops get to go on oprah and tell their story, the true story. no one wants to hear the truth. i'm tired of this mess with the media.

 

[greg334]

arkjarhead
I got to say that this is something that I can't stand, reporters who are treated as heros. Reports have no allegence to the United States, if they did we would hear better news about the work that is being done.

In this case he got a lot of 'preferetial' treatment by airlifting him to germany for treatment in a Miltary hospital and then transported over here with a lot of hoopla. I think that he should pay back the tax payers just as the other reporters who are transported on our military equipment should.

 

[vandecamp]

Whaddya expect? A reporter gets the hero treatment from a liberal biased media. No liberal bias in the embedded media? Save your breath with your uninformed rhetoric. The troops HAAATE the media and have been burned too many times by the self serving trash reporting to the point of keeping the media penned up in the green zone, sipping cuba libres at the hotel. So, whats a motivated ABC hound to do when his own country's military won't take him out on patrol BECAUSE OF ABC's HISTORY of smashing our troops on US primetime?
Why, you go out on patrol with Iraqi troops. And then when you're rolling through the absolute most dangerous section of road in Iraq- Taji market, between Baghdad and Balad on MSR Tampa, you stand up in the back of the vehicle to make your pulitzer commentary. Blooey, take an IED in the side of the head and you're an instant hero, not according to informed people that knew you were endangering yourself in a reckless manner but the spineless schmucks that didn't have the junk to head out of the green zone themselves to spin up some anti-US troop diatribe. The same media that doesn't say a peep about the unarmed civilian truck drivers that get blown up and shot every day.
##### on 'em I say.

 

[terryandrene]

One of the most sacred tenets of the Fifth Estate is that the reporter should never be involved in the story that is being reported. That is why they will film a burning vehicle rather than lift a hand to help douse the flames; that is why they will tell the story of an old lady crossing the street rather than help her safely to the other side.

Bob Woodruff was evidently caught up in the occupational desire to get a scoop on a story about the war, without regard for his personal safety or that of his colleagues. Bob Woodruff became the story.

It was sad for him and his family that he had to endure the same pain and suffering that thousands of our soldiers, sailors and airmen have experienced. It was sadder still, to the point of disgusting, that his fellow journalists, ran past hundreds of wounded warriors in the hospital to get the scoop on Woodruff. Bob Woodruff became the only story.

Fast forward to the USofA and the triumphant return of the heralded reporter who risked his life to bring us a first hand account of any negative aspect of the gulf wars. Woodruff seemed to relish the spotlight as he was interviewed by numerous print and entertainment media, as well as TV and radio hosts. Bob Woodruff was, and continues to be, the story and he should be ashamed to have allowed himself to be a part of the spectacle.

 

[OntarioVanMan]

I don't think the press should be on the frontlines with the troops. They serve no good purpose other then to detract from the mission. Troops are distracted by them and getting killed or injured to protect them. Some would say it's the freedom of the press BUT the U.S. constitution does not apply in a different country in a battle zone. No rights would be denied. They should be kept penned behind the lines if they so chose at thier own risk. And all thier expenses should be covered by thier respective networks.