Sensitive events
| 11:08 UK time, Friday, 13 April 2007
There's been some discussion in the papers about the access given to broadcasters when the bodies of the four British soldiers were flown home yesterday. Not all of it is accurate.
The 91Èȱ¬ - like Sky and ITV News - treat these sad events very seriously and we try to cover them in an appropriate tone and with the prominence and time they deserve. Yesterday, the Ministry of Defence denied the broadcasters access to film the arrival ourselves and instead provided their own recorded footage soon after the event. This seems to be an increasing trend at the Ministry to try to control what is filmed at sensitive events.
There is no dispute over the quality of the footage, which was fine and we still devoted considerable time to the ceremony. However, we would have liked to cover it more fully as it happened and we have done this in the past. The Ministry of Defence says that they wanted to do it in this way to safeguard the privacy of the families. However, in the past we have always respected the wishes of the families absolutely at this desperately difficult time.
Comments
I thought twice about this: My first impression was, 'how could the MoD seek to hush-up this posthumous repatriation?.
My second - and enduring thought - was to realise that the 91Èȱ¬ are going to great lengths to be in-the-face on all matters tragic! This is a bad side-of-the-fence to choose and I wish you'd adopt the appropriate, objective, distance and stay sat on it'! The human suffering of private individuals is not a legitimate remit for tabloid intrusion. There are no valid 'scoops' to be had at such a sad repatriation!
The only clear capture 'angle' is that of '100% human suffering' - and that is not good News. That is assuming that there is no political aim in drawing-out the grief in every living room? I'm not a pacifist, but I object to such heartstring-tugging propaganda. People will harden to it! Give us the 'bad news' as it happens, 24/7, but don't make a drama out of every individuals' crisis thereafter!
If we could trust the media not turn these events into a circus and intrude on the families feelings at such a personal time, perhaps the mod wouldn't have to issue their own footage.
From what I remember of other 91Èȱ¬ coverage of repatriations, it has always been dealt with in a sensitive manner showing what is happenening without any obvious intrusion.
Perhaps the MOD has gone over sensitive following the muck-up with the press and the 15 from Iran.
I note from the 6 o'clock coverage that it was pointed out that the attendance of the defence minister would have made the families uncomfortable, so he was not there, a point missing from the 10 o'clock coverage.
Personally I believe he should be at all the repatriations, as the head of the department that sent them out he should be there to show his respects when they return.
I'm still trying to work out why anybody would want to film the return of the bodies in the first place, or watch the resulting footage; it should be enough to report that it has happened and leave it at that.
I don't know why you are complaining, frankly. You got film of the arrival. Aren't you somewhat ghoulish not to be satisfied with that? It is a terrible and sobering thing for young people to be dying and for their families to have to cope with that truly terrible homecoming.
Why do you think you are so important?
Having respect is a matter of having a proper appreciation of what is and what isn't important - it's not elbowing your way in, sticking a camera in the midst of everything while putting on a solemn face to create the right impression. That is just 'pretend' respect. Let's ssee the 91Èȱ¬ cultivate a bit of the real thing and stop moaning about irrelevancies and trivialities such as that the MoD took the film.
Perhaps, at last, they are getting some spine and denying the 91Èȱ¬ access so that they can make more capital out of the suffering of the British Armed Forces.
I would prefer to see the 91Èȱ¬ denied any access at all to our servicemen and women.
When offered the opportunity to promote the acts of valour and selflessness exhibited by Johnson Beharry, you found it 'too positive'. I suppose service members coming home in caskets is more to your liking.
Traitorous vultures.
What makes 91Èȱ¬ so arrogant that it feels that it has a right to pry into every aspect of every life withint its reach? What does it add to the public debate in any way for 91Èȱ¬ to have direct access to this private matter? What could you possibly learn that anyone needs to know that they don't already know? Your organization really needs to have its ears boxed and its wings clipped. It should be broken up into small units and privitized. There should be many smaller networks which compete against each other just as in the United States. Power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely, and the 91Èȱ¬ which has a near monopoly on electronic media in the UK is as corrupt as any comparable organization anywhere.
The more is talked about the MoD, the more publicity is given to them. Let's just make sure the 91Èȱ¬'s policy doesn't turn into churning out empty stories in the fashion of 'no news is good news'.
It seems faily obvious to me that the sailors and marines coming back from Iran were subjected to a second mission on arrival, that of a propaganda affair. Sell your story to get back at the Iranians.
Let's just drop this story and get on with some more current events, shall we?
-Daniel Winter
Kevin: Your article struck home here, as I just received an E-Mail from an old Navy friend in England that Haslar Naval Hospital has closed and there are no military hospitals left in England. He tells me that returning wounded soldiers have to attend local hospitals and wait in line for treatment. He also told me about a wounded soldier who has paid out 50,000 pounds of his own money for treatment of his wounds Others are waiting a long time for their compensation cheques. Soldiers in hospitals are being told to remove their uniforms for fear of annoying ethnic patients. What in the world is going on? Is there no national uproar about this disgusting situation?
I'm ex-Royal Navy World War II. Please let me hear from you.
The sad events in Iraq have put the government and the Ministry of defence on the back-foot. So being cagey on sensitive issues seems to be the ploy.But when body-bags return, the truth will have to come out; the sooner the better.The 91Èȱ¬ has always prided itself on honest and timely reporting: so the balancing act of getting to the heart of the matter while keeping the sensitivities of serviceman families in mind has to be observed strictly. Not easy at all. But the government is accountable for many glaring mistakes contributing to the fiasco in Iraq. But on the flip side British troops have been facing harrowing situations where split-second decisions have to be taken.
THe reason is obvios why the Mod would not allow the 91Èȱ¬,Sky,ITV to film the return our dead service personal,they know it would be turned into a nice bit of anti british propaganda,a nice Tokyo Rose style of demoralise the British public and our service personal,I say well done the MOD.
Kevin, is there ANY chance your News24 teams will EVER be briefed correctly on devolved politics?
A couple of days ago a studio anchor challeneged Rhodri Morgan on his statement that Labour might scrape together a narrow majority of seats in the Welsh Assembly, clearly unaware that the system was designed not to produce a majority for any one party.
Today we're told Labour has led the Assembly since it's creation when in fact the Assembly was lead by a coalition of Labour and the LibDems between 2000 to 2003.
As an ex soldier having served in a number of operations I was wounded in Northern Ireland as a young man (21)where I was shot. If anyone asked me to remove my uniform for fear of upsetting someone I would have told them where to go.
I took great pride in earning the right to wear it. I wore it for over 23 years through numerous operational deployments. "Take it off, it might upset someone", telling me to take it off would upset someone, ME!
Never forget when you serve you take an "Oath of Allegiance" to this country. We should proud of those who serve. And as for those upset by the sight of it, why do you want to live here and be protected by it.
As an American, I salute British Soldiers for the honor and endless duty to stand along side our troops. We Bring home our fallen troops with honor and respect. Let no person including the Media detract from their honorable sacrifice. Their being and courage was not a side show while they were alive and now we must honor their families, love ones and their friends. Our fallen soldiers are not a side show.
If I can say this, "Media the line is drawn"!
Why is there no reference on the 91Èȱ¬ website - world, Europe or the Middle East - to the murder by strangulation yesterday in a Turkish town of 3 Christian employees of a bible-publishing company, Turkey being an aspirant EU country. The 91Èȱ¬ is engaging in overt news censorship. Why?
How can the 91Èȱ¬ justify using that footage today of the killer of 33 innocent people. It did no good and it served no purpose.
Tell me what was the point.