.Photog Kicked Out of Iraq Embed For Showing Photo of Dead Marine
NEW YORK Only about a dozen reporters are currently embedded with U.S. forces in Iraq -- a shockingly low number. The latest is Scott Hadly of the Ventura County (Ca.) Star, who arrived in-country on Thursday, along with a freelance photographer.
Awaiting his first mission, he sent back from Baghdad a blog posting to his paper about another freelance photog, Zoriah Miller, who has been kicked out of his own embed after he published on his blog a photo of a dead U.S. Marine. The military says this violated embed rules. Miller says he took every step possible to guarantee that the Marine could not be identified in any way, and that left him within the rules.
Here is an excerpt from Hadly's post at: http://www.venturacountystar.com
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It's a disturbing picture.
The dead Marine is lying on his back, his face damaged beyond recognition because of the blast.
But for photojournalist and blogger Zoriah Miller, 32, it was important to capture the daily toll of war in Iraq.
"I just feel this war has become so sanitized that it was important to show," said Zoriah, who prefers to go by his first name. "My only discomfort is the idea that the family could accidentally stumble on it."
To help avoid that, he posted warnings on his online blog, Zoriah.net, about the graphic content of the photo and referred to it off the first page of his site, meaning visitors have to do some click-throughs to access it. The photo is included with others from a suicide bombing that occurred June 26 in the town of Karmah, near Fallujah in Anbar province.
The Marine commanders who saw the photograph were not happy, saying it violated a "trust" between the military and journalists.
Zoriah was immediately "disembedded" from a Marine unit and barred from working with the military in Anbar.
In Gen. John F. Kelly's letter officially kicking him out of province, the Marines said Zoriah "provided the enemy with specific information on the effectiveness of the attack and the response of U.S. and Iraqi forces to the attack."
Zoriah denies he did anything wrong....Zoriah has been flown out of the Marine base and returned to Baghdad. He plans on returning to the U.S. and appealing the Marines' decision.
Editor & Publisher
Awaiting his first mission, he sent back from Baghdad a blog posting to his paper about another freelance photog, Zoriah Miller, who has been kicked out of his own embed after he published on his blog a photo of a dead U.S. Marine. The military says this violated embed rules. Miller says he took every step possible to guarantee that the Marine could not be identified in any way, and that left him within the rules.
Here is an excerpt from Hadly's post at: http://www.venturacountystar.com
*
It's a disturbing picture.
The dead Marine is lying on his back, his face damaged beyond recognition because of the blast.
But for photojournalist and blogger Zoriah Miller, 32, it was important to capture the daily toll of war in Iraq.
"I just feel this war has become so sanitized that it was important to show," said Zoriah, who prefers to go by his first name. "My only discomfort is the idea that the family could accidentally stumble on it."
To help avoid that, he posted warnings on his online blog, Zoriah.net, about the graphic content of the photo and referred to it off the first page of his site, meaning visitors have to do some click-throughs to access it. The photo is included with others from a suicide bombing that occurred June 26 in the town of Karmah, near Fallujah in Anbar province.
The Marine commanders who saw the photograph were not happy, saying it violated a "trust" between the military and journalists.
Zoriah was immediately "disembedded" from a Marine unit and barred from working with the military in Anbar.
In Gen. John F. Kelly's letter officially kicking him out of province, the Marines said Zoriah "provided the enemy with specific information on the effectiveness of the attack and the response of U.S. and Iraqi forces to the attack."
Zoriah denies he did anything wrong....Zoriah has been flown out of the Marine base and returned to Baghdad. He plans on returning to the U.S. and appealing the Marines' decision.
Editor & Publisher
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