The Dean speaks... writes War
Reporting Pushing Journalism

Newsplex became a broadcast newsroom the week that war broke out with Iraq. South Carolina Educational Television broadcast a three-hour special report from the college's facility, showcasing the ability of Newsplex to blend media -- interactive and broadcast. Students and faculty from the College of Mass Communications and Information Studies culled, reported and posted worldwide material to an SCETV war Web site. The Newsplex newsroom was linked to SCETV studios around the state and doubled as an interview set for statewide public officials, military veterans of the first Persian Gulf war and experts from USC.

Newsplex was originally planned not as a production newsroom, but rather as an experimental laboratory. But it proved the point that convergence in journalism is what you make of it. And Newsplex will, as director Kerry Northrup describes it, always be a work in progress evolving to both the needs and the possibilities.

War reporting always pushes the envelope. The U.S.-led war with Iraq is - or was - no exception. The heavy combat phase now seems over, though danger is not dismissed.

This war has introduced us to the Pentagon's latest effort at working with the media, "embedding" the correspondents with the advancing field units. Of course, it's not actually a novel concept. Peter Arnett slogged with the troops in Vietnam. Ernie Pyle died with them in the foxholes of the Pacific in World War II.

It was a turnaround, though, for the military. Some, of course, blamed the press rather than policy for the U.S. defeat in Vietnam. As a result, when President Reagan sent a force onto the Caribbean island of Grenada to remove a Cuban foothold, the media were run off at gunpoint. Accepting a pool of reporters to observe the mission to capture Panama strongman Manuel Noriega did not mean letting the pool get anywhere near the action. Pools were a means of controlling media access in Gulf War I, but were neither satisfactory nor satisfying. To the military's own consternation, hardly anyone saw what the military did well - the swift overland attack that ended the combat, though not the dilemma of Saddam Hussein's autocratic rule.

Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld had good reasons to approve the plan for some 600 journalists to ride along. There was the realization the media would be there anyhow. Moreover, after the last experience the media were likely to reject a pool system and would have the technology to file or broadcast from just about any place on the battlefield. And there was the sense the media serve a valuable purpose for the U.S. government.

"We need to tell the factual story - good or bad - before others seed the media with disinformation and distortions, as they most certainly will continue to do," the Defense Department guidance on "embedding media" states. Cynical, perhaps, but purposeful.

From the media's perspective, it's important to remember the key word i s "embed" not "in bed" with the military. In return for access, the news organizations had to agree only to maintaining operational security =96 not reporting all the details of the operation. The media would also have to carry their own gear and be able to keep up with the troops.

So I've watched my old colleagues go to war: ABC's Ted Koppel at the Iraqi border; CNN's Walter Rodgers in the green glow of a night vision lens; Anne Garrels of NPR waiting through the bombardment of Baghdad for whatever was to come; and Arnett was again in Baghdad, first reporting for National Geographic/MSNBC and in typical Arnett fashion getting sacked for offering a blunt assessment of the war in the wrong place on Iraqi TV.

"Do you miss it?" I'm often asked. No, I don't. I'm busy enough here, thank you. There are other reasons.

There's a lot of adrenaline flowing on the battlefield. Some reporters thrive on it. Warriors can be heroic, but war itself is brutal. It's not a "good story." It's a horrific event that happens to be a compelling story. I did not know Washington Post columnist Michael Kelly or NBC's David Bloom well, but they gave their lives in pursuit of this story.

I covered the 1983 Yom Kippur war in the Mideast from the relatively safe perspective of Beirut. I was in Prague in 1968 and 1969 during the Warsaw Pact occupation of Czechoslovakia. Soviet tanks roamed the streets of the Czech capital, but my reporting experience came largely in the Cold War, not the hot wars.

I was back in Prague the week before the war against Iraq began. War was much the topic of conversation in my meetings with journalists and students. The Czechs are now allies of the United States through their recent membership in NATO. A Czech army unit specialized in combating chemical warfare has been deployed in Kuwait. A medical unit has been in Afghanistan. Czech public opinion tended to oppose the war, but the opposition was soft and not very demonstrative.

Czech journalists were interested in how the war would be covered. Would CNN regain its primacy over Fox and the other news networks? Would journalists be subject to censorship?

Government public affairs officers, in another meeting, wanted to know how to deal with reporters who sensationalize a story or report false information. They complained about reporters who lacked familiarity with the subject they were covering. Sound familiar?

Even more familiar was the complaint of Romanian journalists in Bucharest that they could not get information out of either their officials or the American government about the 4,000 U.S. troops staging for the war at a Romanian base near the port of Constanta. Romanian reporters are eager, but a bit uncertain, about exploiting their new sense of journalistic freedom.

Eastern Europe is fertile ground where the seeds of a free press have germinated. It's a struggle. The economics of too many newspapers and television stations and too little advertising revenue is sure to diminish the number of players. But the journalism program at the University of Bucharest is full. The students are fluent in English and ask the right questions. For example, should they have to choose between print and broadcast journalism? Of course, not. Let me explain convergence.

After all the years I spent dealing with the dreary Communist press, it was exhilarating to see the enthusiasm the young Romanian journalists exude. One reporter at ProTV was eager to get to Iraq, but concerned he might not get a visa after Romania expelled seven Iraqi diplomats. Another ProTV reporter was en route to Israel, but worried Christian Amanpour would get all the good interviews the ProTV reporter sought. Don't most journalists share that worry?

Whether it's war or post-Cold War, there's not a day without journalistic dilemmas. That's the way it should be. If this job were easy, almost anyone could do it.

Dean's Circle' to supplement college needs

This is a tough time to work for a state agency. The University of South Carolina has faced three state budget cuts in the past 12 months, and state officials have told the University to expect an additional cut of nearly 10 percent in the new fiscal year.

One response to declining state revenues is Dean Charles Bierbauer's creation of a Dean's Circle for the College of Mass Communications and Information Studies.

Members will make an annual gift of $1,000 or more. These funds will be unrestricted, which means the dean can use them where they are most needed, to support:

• Student scholarships, awards and fellowships.
• Faculty teaching and research.
• Worthwhile student activities, such as the nationally ranked advertising and public relations teams.

"The state's financial problems are forcing us to tighten our belts, be more entrepreneurial and, unfortunately, consider fees to offset costs," Bierbauer said. "But there is only so much we can expect from our faculty, students and their parents," he said.

The Dean's Circle is modeled after similar programs elsewhere at USC. The names of all Dean's Circle members will be displayed on a plaque outside the dean's office in the College's main reception area.

Donors will also be recognized in our alumni publications, and they will be invited to private receptions for guest speakers like Friedman. From time to time, the dean will schedule breakfast roundtables with Dean's Circle members to get their advice and input on issues facing the College.

"Both of our schools - mass communications and information science - have helped a lot of people get where they are today," said Randy Covington, the College's advancement director.

"The Dean's Circle is an opportunity to give back in a manner that will make a huge difference to students and faculty in these tough economic times and in better times ahead."

Moving out of USC Coliseum, to LeConte ?

University trustees have given preliminary approval for moving the School of Journalism and Mass Communications to the LeConte Building on Gibbes Green. It will be adjacent to the School of Library and Information Science in Davis College.

"This will make our schools not only partners, but neighbors, and will fulfill a long-standing promise to relocate the journalism school," said Dean Charles Bierbauer.

LeConte already is a large building and the University is planning a major addition to include a 250-seat auditorium, distance education facilities for both the journalism and library schools, and administrative offices for the College of Mass Communications and Information Studies.

A concept of the facility was presented to the trustees April 16 and received enthusiastic approval. Now more detailed plans will be drawn up.

Important decisions must be made on curriculum issues that affect space planning, such as whether to merge broadcast and print senior semester into a converged newsroom based on the Newsplex model and how to incorporate a newly planned visual communications major.

Bierbauer says it will be necessary to raise a substantial amount of money to supplement what the University will appropriate for the project.

"Though we have a ways to go, we are delighted that the University supports moving the journalism school to a prime campus location with sufficient space for our faculty and students," Bierbauer added. "And though I've been in the confines of the Coliseum for less than a year, I'll look forward to coming above ground and gaining a new outlook on the University."