Should A Reporter Be Criticised For Taking A Shot At The Islamic State?

Major bucket list completed. Shoot at #ISIS ? Check! pic.twitter.com/sACRLFoY5V

— Jason Buttrill (@JasonButtrill) December 8, 2016

Military Times: Reporter takes heat for shooting at ISIS

Journalists in warzones are supposed to be non-combatants, but Jason Buttrill of The Blaze recently tweeted a picture of himself with a sniper rifle along with the message: “Major bucket list completed. Shoot at #ISIS ? Check!”

A Marine veteran, Buttrill also tweeted that he fired six shots at the enemy. “ISIS looked like ants on that scope, but...my USMC PMI [primary marksmanship instructor] was exceptional.”

Buttrell served as an intelligence in the Marine Corps from January 1999 to January 2003, shortly before the invasion of Iraq, according to Manpower & Reserve Affairs. He was promoted to sergeant in July 2004 while serving in the Individual Ready Reserve.

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WNU Editor: There are some lines that war reporters should not cross .... is this one of them .... clearly many war correspondents feel that he has crossed that line. What's my take .... I am split between both sides.

Did The Pentagon Blacklist Journalists In Afghanistan?

Photographer Scott Peterson is reflected in a mirror while traveling
with Marines in Iraq. Scott Peterson / Getty

From Time Magazine:

Journalists covering the Afghan war rely heavily on coalition forces to gain access to a hardscrabble backcountry populated by Taliban militants. So the reaction was far from muted when the news broke last week that the Defense Department was paying a controversial private firm to profile reporters seeking to accompany — or "embed" — with troops. Reporters quickly complained that it was tantamount to building a blacklist and that the U.S. military was deliberately working to sideline journalists critical of its mission.

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More News On The Media And The Pentagon

U.S. military drops contract profiling reporters -- CNN
Military Cancels Controversial Reporter-Rating Contract -- Danger Room
US military axes PR firm accused of vetting embed journalists -- The Guardian
U.S. military ends journalist profiling contract -- Reuters
Pentagon ends profiling contract -- Politico
What I Don’t Have in Common with the Rendon Group -- Registan
Filtering The Front Lines, Ctd -- The Daily Dish
The Pentagon is checking out journalists. So what? -- Foreign Policy

My Comment: If Bush was still President, they would be saying that it is the Bush White House that is responsible for this stupid policy .... not the Pentagon.

Unfortunately, there is no mention that bloggers are targeted by this policy. A question that I would like to have an answer to.

U.S. Networks Putting Wars On Back Burner

Lara Logan

From the International Herald Tribune:

Getting a story on the evening news isn't easy for any correspondent. And for reporters in Iraq and Afghanistan, it is especially hard, according to Lara Logan, the chief foreign correspondent for CBS News. So she has devised a solution when she is talking to the network.

"Generally what I say is, 'I'm holding the armor-piercing RPG,' " she said last week in an appearance on the satirical news program "The Daily Show," on Comedy Central, referring to the initials for rocket-propelled grenade. " 'It's aimed at the bureau chief, and if you don't put my story on the air, I'm going to pull the trigger.' "

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My Comment: If the war situation was getting worse, war coverage would definitely be back on the air. The focus for the major news networks is the Presidential election, and it will be the case until the middle of November.