Wikileaks released a classified US military video on Monday showing an American helicopter killing over a dozen civilians. Reuters tried to obtain the video through a FOIA request but was continuously rejected (big surprise).
The horror of the event, highlighting a dire need for formidable investigative war reporting, is obvious. Yet some members of the mainstream press are doing an excellent job at missing the point. Check out these headlines:
- Leaked U.S. Video Shows Deaths of Reuters’ Iraqi Staffers (Washington Post)
- Wikileaks releases video depicting US forces killing of two Reuters journalists in Iraq (Christian Science Monitor)
- Wikileaks releases video of Iraq journalist shooting (CNET)
- Video Shows U.S. Killing of Reuters Employees (New York Times)
- Wikileaks Defends Release of Video Showing Killing of Journalists in Iraq (New York Times blog)
- Leaked video footage shows Iraq journalists killed by US gunships (The Times)
- Video shows U.S. air attack that killed photographer in ’07 (Star Tribune)
- Chilling Footage of Journalists Getting Shot In Iraq (San-Francisco Bay Guardian)
You get the point. The killing of twelve unarmed civilians at the hands of American forces is newsworthy, and yet the deaths of two Reuters staff takes headline precedence. What does this, and the fact that it was an independent and heavily under-funded web operation that obtained the video, say about news?
