Press Officer
2nd LT Doral Chenoweth
Manila 1945
(Detached Assignment)
A Sad Sad Update
on War Reporting...
11NOV2004
During World War II when I compiled the biographies and collected the pictures of the 54 reporters killed in action, all were accredited by the War Department, Bureau of Public Relations. Accreditation meant having credentials issued to a newspaper, a wire service, magazine or broadcast network based in one of the Allied nations. Those credentials authorized affiliated reporters for field service with U. S. and Allied forces. That meant they could receive rations and quarters with troops as they moved in theaters of operations. Two diverse examples of how accreditation was obtained:
>>>>> Ernie Pyle, the final chapter in this book, was accredited by the War Department as a Scripps Howard Newspapers correspondent.
>>>>> Tom Treanor was a Los Angeles Times reporter who managed to reach combat zones in North
Africa as a reporter roaming Europe and Africa months before the U. S. entered officially. He attached himself to any number of field combat units as a correspondent working for the L. A. Times and NBC. Eventually, he managed accreditation with other Allied forces when he happened to meet a newspaper friend in India. His personal and humorous account of those efforts comprise a good read. Even today Hollywood could have a big box office with his book: The Only Correspondent Representing a Newspaper From West of the Mississipi Riiver Ever to Visit the Middle East.
Korea was memorialized in M*A*S*H.
World War II had T*R*E*A*N*O*R.
Hollywood's screen treatment is Chatper IX herein.
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Unlike World War II media regulations, reporters killed
in action in the Iraq war came from many nations and,
more or less, were freelancers in a war without borders
or frontlines. Following is the Associated Press story
dated - 11 November 2004:
"Fifty-four journalists were killed this year,
making 2004 the deadliest year for the
media in a decade. Iraq is the most
dangerous place for journalists to work,
with 23 killed this (2004) year, up from
13 last year."
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The 54 killed in action during WW II covered a period
from May 1940, Webb Miller of United Press, killed
in a London black out during a German blitz of the
city; to 18 April 1945 - Ernie Pyle gunned down by
Japanese holdouts on Ie Shima, accredited to
Scripps-Howard Newspapers.
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This website content originally was a book devoted
to World War II combat correspondents killed in
action. With the world aflame again on three fronts
today, click on the "now" button above for related
updates on the Libyan front.
US Military Insanity:
4 JULY 2010
From an L. A. Times
story...June deadliest
yet for coalition...'Afghan
forces had 37 KIAs; The
USA lost 60 troops...click
this three-minute Vimeo...
posted 30 May 2010...
be concerned, protest...
http://vimeo.com/12040116
U.S. War Dead (*)
22 May 2011 (Includes combat and non-combat military deaths.)
We are in the 11th year of U. S. forces being involved in the remote Afghanistan war.
In Afghanistan: 1,501
since military operations began 7 October 2001; up 257 troop deaths since the beginning of this 11th year on 7 October 2010.
In Iraq: 4,452
since military operations began 19 March 2003; nine troopers have been killed since President Obama ordered combat troops out of Iraq in mid-2010 leaving only a security maintenance force.
Sources: Defense Department, Associated Press,
The Columbus Dispatch, iCasualities.org
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(*) Every daily newspaper in America should be
running the monthly death count of reporters
killed in Afghan and Iraq actions, the heaviest
toll in all of America's many wars.
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World War II Accredited
for rations, quarters with U.S. forces in field:
54 (May 1940 to 18 April 1945) Source: War Department Bureau of Public Relations, Liaison Branch 28 January 1946
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Tagging along to cover the war in a land about the size of California, add 1,445 journalists covering the action as “unilaterals,” translated to mean undocumented, or the unwashed. Among the star names now accredited - Ollie North; Geraldo Rivera and Dr. Sanjay Gupta, an Atlanta doctor hired by
CNN to do stand-up about his field surgery. North and Rivera were hired by Fox News to do specials for their stateside studio programs. Dr. Gupta has since become a roving reporter working other major news stories on location.
In my war the beat was around the world. Theaters of operations were pegged to Europe, North Africa, the Pacific, and China-Burma. The War Department, Bureau of Public Relations, gave accreditation to 500 reporters.
Fifty four were killed in action. That’s a huge slice from the 500 who were “accredited for service (meaning for rations and quarters) with US Forces in the field.” This website is their story related from the first death in May, 1940, to the last, Ernie Pyle, on 18 April 1945.
Doral Chenoweth
O-1338687
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