thedrifter
02-08-07, 08:13 AM
New York Times apologizes for photo, video of dying soldier
By Chad Groening
AgapePress
February 7, 2007
(AgapePress) -- The director of TimesWatch says the New York Times once again showed its insensitivity toward those who are in harm's way when it published a photo of a soldier from Texas dying of a gunshot wound he suffered in Baghdad. The paper also put a video of the dying soldier on its website.
A media watchdog organization is calling the New York Times to task for publishing a photo and video of a dying U.S. soldier in Baghdad before the victim's family was notified by military authorities.
According to the Houston Chronicle, the Times has issued an apology to the family of Army Staff Sergeant Hector Leija for publishing a photo of the dying soldier in the paper and a video version on its website on January 29. The Times "expresses regret that the family suffered distress," says the report, which notes that the newspaper's response came after a telephone discussion between Times executive editor Bill Keller and the commander of the Multi-National Corps-Iraq, Army Lt. General Raymond Odierno.
Sergeant Leija was assigned to 1st Battalion, 23rd Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team), Fort Lewis, Washington. He was buried with full military honors in his hometown of Raymondville, Texas, on Monday, February 5. He was 27 years old.
Clay Waters is director of TimesWatch, a division of the Media Research Center. He says even though the Times expressed regret that Leija's family suffered distress as a result of their actions, this is not the first time the paper has crossed the line in dealing with fallen soldiers.
"Maybe they thought or assumed that the family had already been notified," he suggests. "They didn't check it; they didn't dot the I's and cross the T's. They figured maybe this is such a gripping story, we've got to run this anyway -- and they just didn't count on the family of Hector Leija protesting."
The Times apparently did not follow proper procedures, says the TimesWatch director, when it published images of Leija after he was mortally wounded during a patrol on January 24. "It's not like it's a negative hit piece, by any stretch," he says. "I mean, Hector Leija comes off as a heroic figure. But it was definitely bad form."
Waters says Times reporter (Damien Cave) and photographer (Robert Nickelberg, a contract employee) have apparently been assigned to another unit because they violated a signed agreement not to publish any images of a wounded soldier without the service member's consent. "I think they're going to get embedded to another place," he shares, "but when they get there I think they really need to follow the proper procedures. Everyone knows what the deal is, and there was really no excuse for this, I don't think, on the part of the Times."
The website for Waters' group includes an example of an earlier Times' report which chose to excise from a letter, written by a Marine to his girlfriend before his death, a statement explaining what he considered the greater meaning of his sacrifice in Iraq. In doing so, says TimesWatch, the newspaper "left readers with a diminished ... portrait of a doomed Marine."
Ellie
By Chad Groening
AgapePress
February 7, 2007
(AgapePress) -- The director of TimesWatch says the New York Times once again showed its insensitivity toward those who are in harm's way when it published a photo of a soldier from Texas dying of a gunshot wound he suffered in Baghdad. The paper also put a video of the dying soldier on its website.
A media watchdog organization is calling the New York Times to task for publishing a photo and video of a dying U.S. soldier in Baghdad before the victim's family was notified by military authorities.
According to the Houston Chronicle, the Times has issued an apology to the family of Army Staff Sergeant Hector Leija for publishing a photo of the dying soldier in the paper and a video version on its website on January 29. The Times "expresses regret that the family suffered distress," says the report, which notes that the newspaper's response came after a telephone discussion between Times executive editor Bill Keller and the commander of the Multi-National Corps-Iraq, Army Lt. General Raymond Odierno.
Sergeant Leija was assigned to 1st Battalion, 23rd Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team), Fort Lewis, Washington. He was buried with full military honors in his hometown of Raymondville, Texas, on Monday, February 5. He was 27 years old.
Clay Waters is director of TimesWatch, a division of the Media Research Center. He says even though the Times expressed regret that Leija's family suffered distress as a result of their actions, this is not the first time the paper has crossed the line in dealing with fallen soldiers.
"Maybe they thought or assumed that the family had already been notified," he suggests. "They didn't check it; they didn't dot the I's and cross the T's. They figured maybe this is such a gripping story, we've got to run this anyway -- and they just didn't count on the family of Hector Leija protesting."
The Times apparently did not follow proper procedures, says the TimesWatch director, when it published images of Leija after he was mortally wounded during a patrol on January 24. "It's not like it's a negative hit piece, by any stretch," he says. "I mean, Hector Leija comes off as a heroic figure. But it was definitely bad form."
Waters says Times reporter (Damien Cave) and photographer (Robert Nickelberg, a contract employee) have apparently been assigned to another unit because they violated a signed agreement not to publish any images of a wounded soldier without the service member's consent. "I think they're going to get embedded to another place," he shares, "but when they get there I think they really need to follow the proper procedures. Everyone knows what the deal is, and there was really no excuse for this, I don't think, on the part of the Times."
The website for Waters' group includes an example of an earlier Times' report which chose to excise from a letter, written by a Marine to his girlfriend before his death, a statement explaining what he considered the greater meaning of his sacrifice in Iraq. In doing so, says TimesWatch, the newspaper "left readers with a diminished ... portrait of a doomed Marine."
Ellie