Seed NewsvineEmail from David Isenberg
Feb 6, 2009 David Isenberg, Jake's Posts
Below is an email I received from David Isenberg in response to one of my recent posts here at TCO. It’s much longer and more detailed than a typical post comment and it’s so full of excellent insight that I asked for and received his permission to publish here for all to see. Enjoy…
Jake
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Hi Jake,
Thanks for writing the post Hey PMCs: Stop Blaming “the media”. Since you have mentioned me on your site a few times and we had a great conversation on your podcast the other night I want to make a few observations.
I’ve long dealt with the press, mostly as an analyst at various NGO/think tank jobs dealing with military defense, security, foreign policy issues et cetera. More recently I operate on the fringes, as you know, as a columnist, not a reporter, for United Press International.
So my view is shaped by having been on both sides of the street, so to speak. Still, I want to be clear here. I am not a journalist. I don’t even play one on TV. But I think I have a better than average understanding of how they operate and constraints they labor under so I’m going to venture a few thoughts. If I’m wrong, well, there are lots of real journalists who lurk in cyberspace, reading these posts, and I’d welcome any thoughts they have.
First, I am generally a fan of the average reporter. Note I say reporter, not columnist, not self-proclaimed activist, not the average blogger. Maybe it is because my formative growing up years were in the 20th century but I subscribe to the belief that we are all better off with a robust, uninhibited media digging into corners and unearthing muck. I mean, what other choice do we have? Do you really expect the government or private sector honchos to keep themselves in check out of the goodness of their heart?
I think when that day comes when the last paper folds its printing press we are in deep trouble, but that is a point left to another post.
Second, I don’t believe the press, or the media, if you like, is left-wing. The “left leaning media and their agenda” is a very old canard, mostly put out by rightwing groups, in a brazen effort to smear them and get them to hew to a party line. Think of groups like Reed Irvine’s Accuracy in Media, for example. Many people have written extensively on this myth, such as Eric Alterman, to name just one (http://www.whatliberalmedia.com).
More importantly, the overriding interest of the media, like any other industry, is to stay in business, just like the firms you worked for. If that is not a free market, i.e., traditional rightwing value, then nothing is.
Third, as you noted, the media is hardly monolithic. It exists at many different levels. Even if you stick with print, there is the national press, regional, and local outlets. And then there is the specialized trade press. It is really hard to think that those working for, say, Jane’s Defence Weekly, Army/Navy/Air Force Times, Defense News, Defense Week, Inside the Pentagon, Starts & Stripes,.. are a bunch of ‘left wing ‘liberals’ or promoting a ‘pacifist do-gooder agenda.’
But even beyond them, many of the regular reporters at, say, regional or mid-size papers, who have a PMC or PSC in their district can become genuine, incredibly knowledgeable experts. Think of the News & Observer which has Blackwater in their backyard. For my money, Jay Price, who works there, may be the best person in the country on BW, and there is not a single bit of bias in his work. If BW doesn’t like the fact that he uncovered hundreds of incidents reports, some of which documented, non-righteous shoots, well, hey, that’s just too freaking bad. Remember, one does not kill the messenger for bringing the news, as long as it is true.
Fourth, some understanding of how the media works would help the “industry”, such as it is. With some exceptions a lot of the print reporters treat their reporters the same way the military treats its officers. They put them in a specialty, give them some months to get up to speed, and then set them loose. After a couple of years, if they do well, they move them to a different beat, and the process repeats itself. Yes, not all papers act like that but it happens pretty frequently. What this means is that a reporter may be ignorant, but not in a bad way. It means they don’t know anything about the issue and are genuinely seeking help. Bear in mind that reporters are like most Americans in that actual firsthand military experience is something they don’t have. It does not mean they are against it. In fact, the average poll regarding public institutions generally ranks military the highest, even if it is the most mismanaged department in the federal bureaucracy. It just means they don’t know the vocabulary that many of you take for granted.
That is a HUGE opportunity for someone at a company, if they are smart enough to seize it. Instead of sneering at them for not knowing the difference between semi and full auto they should politely and calmly provide the answer to their question. And give them the name and number of somebody else to call. Remember, they are dying for sources and references. Assuming you are competent enough to return their call promptly – remember, they are on DEADLINE – you will have made him or her very happy.
I can tell you from personal experience that there have been times when I called up Blackwater and people there PROMISED to get back to me and I never heard from them again. Imagine if I were a reporter and kept having that happen to me. I think if you look at the number of people BW has had doing public relations for them over the years it tells you something about their ability, or lack thereof, to get their message out.
Reporters won’t be your friend; that would compromise their goal of objectivity, and by and large they do try to strive for that, recognizing it is an imperfect world and someone is always going to be unhappy, but they will come back to you again and again. That will give you a chance to educate them on how life is for people in your sector. That is more important than trying to shape a story. And truthfully you should not try and do that. Good reporters are just going to see that, and rightfully so, as another attempt to spin them. I don’t think you and other field operators want to be seen as a bunch of pr flaks or apologists.
Good reporters take nothing for granted. Remember the old journalistic adage, “If your mother tells you she loves you, check it out.” Don’t expect them just to take your word for it. Steer them towards some hard evidence.
Remember you are not looking for a friend. You are just looking for an accurate story. And if they do that it wouldn’t hurt to say nice job. Remember when Steve Fainaru did his reporting on Crescent. He obviously put in a huge amount of time and effort into that. I regard it as a public service. All the firms out there should be happy that the Post ran his series and made people aware of what a screwed up company it was.
As for being your own media outlet there is some merit to the idea but remember, any twit can start his or her own blog but nobody is going to read it if you do not have something intelligent to say. Ranting about liberal media pukes, or dismissing journalists as people in pursuit of “spicy merc” stories, as Doug Brooks of IPOA frequently does, is not helpful. You need to provide added value to what is out there to get anyone to listen.
This is, I think, one area where the firms screw themselves. For all the literature that is out there and it is immense, there is still very little on the day to day life for, say, a security contractor. Aside from Robert Pelton’s License To Kill and a few books since then, from operators in Iraq, there has just not been that much. That is a huge void that could easily be filled. We both know that there are all sorts of reports that companies generate as part of their contracts. Let’s get them out there so people can get a sense of what contractors do. Do NOT let yourself get in the position BW found itself in with regard to its WPPS contract, where State said you can’t talk to the press unless we give you permission. I’m sure historians will judge that BW got screwed on that. Also, you should interpret nondisclosure agreements narrowly, not broadly. And, for pity’s sake, both companies and their clients, i.e., Uncle Sam, should stop hiding behind FOIA exemptions. It just makes them look like they have something to hide. I’ve looked at some of them and you will never convince me that all the info they try to redact is a genuine trade secret
Another way to think of this is that dealing with the media is an “information operation.” Maybe firms need to think of hiring former Civil Affairs types who know how to do this. And firms DEFINITELY need to avoid like the plague hiring the former high-ranking government official or military officer who says I don’t deal with the media. If you hear someone talking like that throw his ass out the door immediately. Dealing with the media is an integral part of your operation. Like it or not it is a cost, just like buying comms, weapons, vehicles, body armor… for your people in the field. Budget for it, and, more importantly, hire a professional who knows how to do it. There are lots of public relations types out there who would do a great job for a firm for a lot less than what they pay a field operator.
For example, the blogs that defend Blackwater often make good points but they are so wrapped up in accusing anyone who says anything remotely critical about a PMC or PSC as a warmed over hippie peacenik that they lose their credibility. And Serviam magazine, which has published good articles - I cited some in my book – is seen, by dint of where it gets its funding, as an industry tool.
Remember, cool, dispassionate, factual replies are always more credible than inflamed name calling.
By the way, re “If you’re the kind of sod who sits around complaining about the media’s treatment of Blackwater” implies that Blackwater can do no wrong. Someone or something that does no wrong would be an example of perfection. How often do you see that? Perhaps you should consider that maybe Blackwater, and every other firm can, in fact do something wrong, at least once in a while. Given your own past post on the subject you have admitted as much yourself.
By the way, I have gone to several IPOA events over the years, and listened to people from various companies moan and groan about clueless media. Well, the next time you hear that, ask yourself what are you doing to educate them? Why doesn’t IPOA or other trade group organize an event where you invite reporters in and get briefings from country managers or team leaders? As you wrote, “Stop bitching about it and start doing something to get out the message that our industry is not as we are being perceived.”
As for, “Yes the media is always coming up with stories about some shooting here or some incident there but you know what?” I’d say you can’t fault people for that. I mean it is their JOB. If someone killed an innocent civilian then that should be reported. Period. That is not just some shooting. That is someone’s son, daughter, mother, father, brother, sister,… who was killed when they weren’t doing anything wrong. That is what we, at least back in the 20th century, used to call murder. You can’t just say that is some overzealous media weenie at work. When something like that happens it is tarring the rest of you. You should all be the first ones clamoring for all the facts to get out.
Now, none of the above is to say the media is faultless. I’ve long thought that some of the best insights into the companies come from someone like Robert Young Pelton who, as he always takes pain to remind people, is NOT a journalist.
Now why is that? Well, of course, in large part, it is because of his own personal background and interests, i.e. World’s Most Dangerous Places, and extensive traveling. But one thing stands out to me, which is his willingness to do on the ground reporting. Perhaps if firms were to allow more reporters to witness their day to day ops you would get better understanding of the challenges a PMC/PSC faces. I can hear someone arguing, we’d love to do that but our client won’t let us. To which I say, pithily, BS. Your main client, Uncle Sam, lets reporters embed with regular military units every day. That reminds me, the firms need to be more proactive in doing their own PR. If they wait for the government to defend them they will be waiting forever. Again, look at how the State Dept. has left BW twisting in the wind over WPPS.
And while there may be reporters who don’t leave the hotel in the Green Zone, there are many others who will gladly do so, if only because they are trying to make a name for themselves. They won’t ask for special treatment, just an opportunity to do a ride along and ask questions.
As to “We should be using these same media tools that you are complaining about to divert the attention away from the discussion of our very existence and start forcing the dialogue around the failures of the governments and the bureaucrats at the UN. It is they who have failed time and time again to do their jobs.” Well, yes, and no. I know it is a popular talking point for firms, i.e., the UN won’t do it, so let us, hence Cofer Black pitching BW in Darfur.
The problems with UN peace ops are well known and vastly documented so I won’t dwell on it here but we should at least be honest enough to admit that the UN is only as effective as its members, the various states, allow it to be. I mean, come on, it wasn’t a UN bureaucrat who prohibited peacekeepers from being sent to Rwanda at the start of the genocide. It was the fact that every single one of the then 19 states, then participating in the UN Standby Arrangements System, including the US, deliberately declined to contribute military forces.
The idea that PSCs, for example, are going to be allowed to intervene in some future Rwanda, or Sudan today, against the objections of whatever passes for a government is, well, to put it politely, rather farfetched. And, no, don’t tell me about PAE assisting in humanitarian ops. We’re talking something different here.
You wrote “Right now that room is 99.9% filled with people who hate us. Perhaps because they fear us, perhaps it is jealousy but more likely because they don’t understand us.”
I think you are one third right. I do not believe the media room is filled with people who hate you. Remember we are talking about real reporters here, not “peace activists” or someone spouting off on Democracy Now.
Frankly, real reporters are too busy too hate, they have deadlines to meet. And what would they be jealous of, the fact they don’t get an opportunity to go into the field and risk being wounded or killed? I mean pay in journalism sucks, but it is not that bad. Although the way it is going you may find some ex-reporters seeking work at places like the Lincoln Group, at least, in the near future.
But you are correct to say they don’t understand you. There are good reasons for that.
First, what the hell are you? We know what a car industry is; it makes cars. We know what the steel industry was, it made steel. We even know what the higher education industry is, it churns out students. But what is a private military or security contractor? As some kind or semi-organized sector you have barely been around twenty years. If we were to use cars as a reference you’d still be in the horseless carriage category. If you are an industry what is your ISO designation?
Some of your advocates like to call you the Peace and Stability Operations industry? I admit it’s a nice sound bite. Nobody in their right mind can be against that; ranks right up there with mom, apple pie, and a bagel with lox. Presumably you offer various services. But I can’t find any listing for them in the UN ComTrade database. In many cases you offer services which have to be approved by the State and Pentagon, because, technically, they are a military export. But you can’t find them listed in the Foreign Military Sales records. And where is the place at the SEC to find all the industry’s 10k forms?
So if you are an industry you are very well hid, albeit in plain sight. That is one reason I am an advocate of turning far more records into the public realm. I’ll have more on that in a future column.
Second, you lack concrete definition by which you can be understood. Try reading some of the law journal articles I list in the bibliography of my book and see the endless debate over whether PSCs are civilians or mercenaries, as measured against the definition in Article 47, Protocol 1, Geneva Convention. There is not yet any global agreement. So if the lawyers can’t define you perhaps it is understandable that people, including reporters, have difficulty figuring out what you are.
Furthermore, many companies don’t have well defined niches. Like many firms in the “professional services” category - and what the hell does THAT mean? – firms set up new divisions to pursue whatever contract they can. One day they are doing training, the next a PSD detail, or maybe providing a plane for the CIA to rendition someone to another country. I mean have you ever seriously looked at what most firms put on their websites? The language is so ineffably ambiguous and bland that it would raise anyone’s suspicions. Oh, you are a security and risk management company? Do tell. You mean, you carry guns, or do you just study actuarial tables or provide information to Lloyds of London? And Aegis actually does that last one.
Third, if you are an “industry” you are a business, and, as such, in pursuit of profit. Nothing wrong with that, of course, we all have to earn money. But people always, correctly, assume, that is your first and foremost goal. But Americans are suspicious of any and all industries. That is just a fact of life. From the public perspective your firms are just another contender trying to get some of Sammie’s money, not really different from Lockheed Martin or Raytheon. And we all know what high regard they are held in.
And let’s face facts, when you are dealing with the amount of money that the US government is shoveling out to you guys, i.e., LOGCAP, ROC, et cetera, it is only natural that people be, at least, somewhat skeptical. After all we have read of KBR/Halliburton kickbacks and CusterBattles they would be fools not to.
Fourth, sometimes I think the people in the firms expect too much just because they are ex-military. Yes, I agree that the vast majority of ex-military people now working for contractors conduct themselves just as honorably and professionally as they did on active duty. And I agree that those values don’t disappear overnight just because you are discharged. Nevertheless they are NOT on active duty anymore. You do not get a free ride because of that. I mean I would have liked it if Angela Jolie had gone out on a date with me in appreciation of my Navy service. Guess what, it was never going to happen.
And remember, not even everyone in the regular military thinks you are necessarily a good thing. I write about that in my book. If some in the military have doubts about using contractors you can understand how civilians might have doubts as well.
You are just like the rest of the public now, another working stiff trying to make a living. You may be supporting the troops; you may be an integral part of the Total Force but you are just another government contractor. You do your job, you get paid. And that’s it. If you expect to get a pat on the back after receiving your money, well, you will be waiting a long time.
Nobody is particularly impressed that a firm is headed up by a former SEAL, Green Beret, ex-three or four star general. Be thankful that more people don’t actually understand how getting promoted in the commissioned clown corps actually works.
Fifth, sometimes I think people on the industry side make the same mistake their critics do, i.e., talk in sound bites. Doug Brooks, for example, has long trotted out this one, “Effective utilization of the private sector has ensured that Iraq and Afghanistan are the best supported, best supplied military operations in history.” Well, so what? If it was all done in-house they would still be the best supported, best supplied military operations in history. Now, perhaps, they might be doing it more cheaply, which would be good, but that is not the point he makes.
And, just to push this a little further, he constantly claims that the PMC/PSC sector is a bit like the Bionic Man, i.e., that on issues like logistics, at least, or training they do it as effectively, more efficiently, and more cheaply than doing it in-house. Well, maybe, maybe not. LOGCAP obviously works, but the truth is that nobody knows for sure. I’ve been asking him and others for years to produce the empirical, peer reviewed articles that support this claim. I am still waiting. The fact is, surprisingly, very little has been done.
The best anyone can do recently is point to the CBO study which came out last year. But if you read that closely what it actually said is that, using a PSC is not more expensive than using regular military forces, not that it was always cheaper. Yes, logically, it should be so, not keeping around people who aren’t actually being used, but there is no hard, authoritative data substantiating it.
Even Erik Prince, in his congressional testimony, after Nisoor Square, admitted that to date there has been no apples to apples, oranges to oranges cost comparison. Your “industry” would be well advised to spend some money funding some genuinely independent analysts to run the comparisons.
By the way, since I have mentioned Doug Brooks a few times, I have nothing against him or IPOA. It is just that he is the one I have most dealt with over the years. I think that both he and it, for whom and what they are, have done a good job and helped advance the pubic debate. I said so in my book. But he does run a trade association and thus, by definition, (they do pay his salary, after all) has as much of a bias towards the industry as those he accuses, sometimes, of being biased against it.
Sixth, you should recognize that the PMCs and PSCs are the latest actors in a long running debate, namely, that over privatization and outsourcing. At a minimum this has been going on in a big way since at least the late 1970s, when it came over the Atlantic from England, courtesy of Margaret Thatcher to Ronald Reagan. The debate over whether this is a good or bad thing is still ongoing and far from being settled. Outsourcing is fact of life. I take it for granted that the U.S. military and other government agencies can not operate now or any time in the foreseeable future without contractors. But that does not mean it is an unmitigated good. Remember that not all costs are economic.
Finally, since you mention Eeben Barlow, and he commented on the piece, let me say that in regard to him and EO you do have an incontrovertible example of media bias. And not one that was merely inaccurate but often demagogic and vicious. I remember much of what was written about him and it was terrible. I mean terrible in the sense it was badly written, poorly, if at all, researched and often downright bigoted.
But it wasn’t that the media was biased, much of it was taking its cues from the post-apartheid ANC government, a point Barlow himself acknowledges. If the government hadn’t been against him and EO the coverage would have been less vitriolic. Today, it is not governments that are against PMCs and PSCs.
And, truthfully, EO was such an exceptional case, a PSC of one, to paraphrase the old U.S. Army recruiting expression, that extrapolating from then to now is irrelevant. The fact is that today’s PSCs are nothing like EO, and do not do the sort of operations that it did in Angola or Sierra Leone.
I can understand that Eeben would still be embittered and mistrustful of the press. If I were he, given what he endured, I would undoubtedly be the same way. But he and others should at least consider that circumstances are different nowadays.
Furthermore, the sheer growth of PMCs and PSC since then makes them less mysterious, if still misunderstood. Much of the media is more familiar with them. They may still misunderstand them but the level of suspicion that EO contended with is far less.
And, it bears noting that EO was not without recourse in dealing with bad media coverage. Please ask Eeben to recount how Michael Grunberg, who acted on behalf of both EO, and Sandline, would deal with inaccurate coverage. I still laugh, recalling it.
And, to the extent EO got good coverage, it was because at least some of his staff was open to talking with the press. I still remember the assistance I received from Rico Visser of EO, who was very helpful, when I was putting together a television show on the subject.
Well, that is about it. I hope this was not too long for your readers. To sum up, I do not believe the press is your enemy. I wrote the following in my book:
There has also been some very fine press reporting over the years. Considering the sensationalism that this subject engenders and the personal risk that some reporters have taken in covering the actions of PSCs in war zones, I would be remiss if I did not mention a few of them. These include Steve Fainaru and Renae Merle of the Washington Post, T. Christian Miller of the Los Angeles Times, Jay Price and Joseph Neff of the News & Observer, David Pallister and Julian Borger of the Guardian, Robert Fisk of the Independent, Thomas Catan of the Financial Times, David Phinney of CorpWatch, Sharon Behn of the Washington Times, Katherine McIntire Peters and Shane Harris of Government Executive, William Matthews of Defense News, and Jim Krane and Deborah Hastings of the Associated Press. There are many more who should be mentioned, but space does not permit it.
If anything, ignorance, and I mean that in its classic dictionary sense, “lack of knowledge, learning, information, etc.” is the enemy of your industry. So, avoid the shadows, and, as was memorably said in the Poltergiest, head towards the light.
Cheers,
David
Researcher, International Peace Research Institute, Oslo (PRIO)
Columnist (Dogs of War), United Press International
February 6th, 2009 at 3:52 pm
My thanks again to David for taking the time to craft this very thorough response. I would just like to clarify that when I originally said, “Yes the media is always coming up with stories about some shooting here or some incident there…” I was not implying that those incidents should not be reported. I fully agree that they should. What I meant to say was that often the media will continue to endlessly make reference to these events even when the subject of later articles are not directly related to such events. You see this often when any news about Blackwater is reported. No matter what the subject of the story is the article will almost always slip in a line or two that says “Blackwater guards are charged with killing 17 innocent civilians in Baghdad…”
If anything this fact should serve as a warning to all PMCs that negative events will never be forgotten so companies should put much higher emphasis on preventing them in the first place AND having a robust PR capability in the event that they do.
SF
Jake
February 6th, 2009 at 7:07 pm
Hey, Do I sense dissonance here? Bloggers are just ticks on the media dog so what is going to happen when they actually have to expense, copy edit, pay usage fees, fact check and hire lawyers…they become the thing they hate the most…the MEDIA.
Jake don’t be a dumb towards the “media” as you accuse the media of being dumb towards the security industry. Both are a complex mix of geniuses, whores, heroes, charlatans and role models.
David is correct, its the media’s job to find the truth but never confuse “PR” (like the recent lovefest between milbloggers and BW) with the tough job of drilling down into the truth.
Its Ok to hate journos cuz they are up there with embalmers, auditors and proctologists. You know something is gonna hurt when they come knocking. :))
Rock On
RYP
February 6th, 2009 at 7:47 pm
David,
This article of yours should be required reading along with your book. It will go into the archives at the future Center for Contractor Lessons Learned. lol
Well written, and certainly the words of a maven. Companies and security contractors alike should read this several times over, because it will only add to their shared reality with media and how they work.
A few things I wanted to mention. For guys like me and Jake, we are still actively working in the industry, and held by non-disclosure agreements from prior contracts. It sucks, because I would like to correct the record on many stories out there that are outright false. The non-disclosure thing is another self defeating tool of the PMC/PSC, and I have to be very careful. Notice the silence from anyone involved with Blackwater, and the current issues plaguing that company? Everyone wants to keep their job, and no one wants to be blackballed for speaking out. That is a reality that the media has been dealing with, and they gladly fill the void. Jeremy Scahill wrote an entire book about Blackwater, without one interview with Prince or a manager. Scahill filled the void with open source media, of other journalists and reporters that had to fill the voids. That is why most of us in the industry have no respect for the book, but it certainly is read by the MSM and public.
But I do think there is a happy medium. I am always careful to discuss just the ideas that I know are to be universal. I post stories, and make my comments on them, and try to add a filter that the rest of the industry can groove on. So I am thankful to reporters/journalists/bloggers etc. for those open sources of info. But it could be better.
I am also thankful for forums, because guys speak their mind occasionally on forums, and that is helpful for me to accurately gauge the mood and opinions of our industry. But over all, it is very difficult to get guys to openly discuss this stuff, for fear of losing their ability to work in the industry.
So what happens in that kind of information vacuum? Guys like Pelton or Steve Fainaru write books about a ride along they had on a convoy operation, and they now become experts on the industry. I guess that is better than Singer, who really had no experience with the subject matter, but these current books are what we got because of that information void.
Then you have guys like me and Jake who actually worked in Iraq at the same time as those two authors, and we lost co-workers over there while doing the job. Do those two men speak for us and the industry? Do they care about those lost co-workers? Do they care about getting the story right, or are they more concerned with selling books? It’s hard to say, but you can see the kind of skepticism that could develop from that lack of shared reality. The proof of a good book, in my viewpoint, is that the guys that were there should be giving it a thumbs up.
But it is the reporter or author that gets the ear of the rest of the MSM and public, and that is a reality that we must deal with. If you go onto the forums every time a book or article comes out, you can almost hear the restrained moans and groans through the computer. Nothing specific for obvious reasons, but you know guys are not happy because they know the real deal of what went down. But that is the problem, they can’t let loose on an open forum, because they fear for their job, or worse yet, fear criminal prosecution or lawsuits for speaking out.
In private, we all talk and we all know the real deal, but publicly there is always that fear of speaking up. So that is when the criticism is laughed at by the MSM, because no one can back that critique up with facts–unless it does go to the courts.
PMC/PSC’s should really think about this concept of transparency, and what it really means. They should not fear those of us that are willing to tell a story, or express an idea. They should embrace us, or they will have others that are not that friendly to their cause define them.
Here’s an idea. The first question they should ask on a job form is if that contractor has a blog, and what is the blog’s Alexa rating? (lol, and I am kidding)
But seriously, one source of the information vacuum is this non-disclosure stuff. It doesn’t stop everyone, but feeding your family and job security is one factor that keeps guys held to those silencing agreements.
Although I must admit that I have seen more books out these days, written by contractors or even special forces/intelligence guys. All these books coming out are written by former Delta operators or former CIA guys and they are really intriguing to me.
These guys have non-disclosure agreements from hell, yet somehow they are able to write some pretty revealing books about their profession and past operations. Obviously OPSEC and PERSEC is observed, but still, that is a major shift in media relations. The PMC/PSC industry should take note.
Also, the internet is forcing the PMC/PSC industry to change their tune. There are too many ways for information to be spread now, and it is so easy to do. If you go to the forums or even Facebook/Myspace, you would be amazed at the kind of things that come out. And it is all controlled by some moderator or page owner that might, or might not catch stuff in time. I collect stuff at these places all the time, and then I am told to remove it at a later point, just because I got it before the moderators got to it or the author screwed up in posting it.
That is pretty crazy if you think about it, and guys are freely talking about stuff more and more these days.
The point being, is that the information flow is constantly being pushed, and damn near impossible to stop. And culturally, we will be seeing film that will further define and tell the story. If you look at video games, they have already stepped out to define the industry, and it ain’t pretty. Check out Army of Two sometime, and you will see what I am talking about. It’s a fun game, but the storyline and characters play onto a stereotype that is not flattering at all.
With that example, look at the US Army, and their use of video games as a recruitment tool? The military is also delving into blogging, with generals even blogging now. Remember several years back, that soldiers that blogged were ordered to stop. Now, it is used as a tool for commanders and soldiers to gain a shared reality within the unit and the overall mission.
The other shocking one, is when the MSM quotes from and links to blogs. Journalists are not too happy with that one, because now any Joe can publish stuff that could compete in a specific field that journalists once dominated. For the most part, journalists still dominate it, but now they have a blogger competing with them for the same audience. Although on that note, it always goes back to content and the strength of the ideas of that blogger or journalist. If those ideas suck, no one visits that idea island called a blog or column and it gets the title of laim.
The result of this competition is that bloggers learn to be more like journalists to compete, and journalists/reporters try to be like bloggers to compete(even starting blogs, as well as writing articles) Funny stuff.
That is a reality that will only push the information flow to a gusher, and yet again, companies need to grab onto this concept and figure out how to work with it. Because to shun it, or protest it will not work. It’s all about Kaizen, and today’s media and internet can certainly be a force of continuous improvement for a company if they can figure out how to work with it.
S/F
Matt
February 7th, 2009 at 8:20 am
I have just read David’s very interesting article titled “Dogs of War: PMC Research 101”. I do, however, need to point out one unintended error in David’s article. David wrote that EO was “not particularly eager to answer press inquiries”.
If I recall correctly, our press releases were sent to approx 120 media representatives and embassies. These releases covered what we were doing, where we were doing it, who in the company had been caught breaking the law, what action was taken against them, etc, etc. I had an “open door policy with the media and we even flew members of the media to numerous locations where we were working. But, as I was told by one journalist, essentially what we had to say was “not in the public’s interest”. They had obviously predetermined what their angle on EO would be. Again, the world has turned and the PMCs of today do not have to fight a multi-fronted war as we did. Our enemies in the media (in SA) were very closely associated with Military Intelligence (I still have hundreds of their “Top Secret” fabrications – and the military never challenged me on what I wrote in my book) and were merely using the media to propagate their disinformation. Foreign media picked up the SA disinfo and put their own spin on it.
SA-based researchers such as the ISS were too keen to pick up on the disinfo and publish it in their research papers. They even made up stories of their own on EO and myself and put it out as “research” – and gladly accepted payment for their lies.
I have it in the best authority that foreign governments, like America, was using its intelligence fronts in South Africa, notably USAid to feed disinfo on EO to the media at the highest level. Even anti-US journos often swallowed their twisted feeds as gospel.
I know I am harping on this issue but the apology I got in the SA media did give me some satisfaction but the damage had been done.
In retrospect, there was not much more we could have done to rectify what was being written and the pen was indeed mightier than the sword.
So, I believe there is a fine balance to be kept between the media and the PMC. But, the PMC need to make sure that it does not purposely try to hide its own faults.
Anyway, that is just my grumpy two-cents worth.
Rgds,
Eeben
February 7th, 2009 at 12:11 pm
I will respond to other comments later but let me respond to Eeben quickly.
He is correct that Executive Outcomes actually had an extensive effort to let the world know what they did and how they were doing it. It was actually quite a public relations effort, all the more impressive, for how small it was. Those interested in seeing for themselves can still find portions of the old EO website using the Wayback Machine on the Internet Archive; just plug in the old EO URL, http://www.eo.com , or better yet, go directly to http://web.archive.org/web/19980703122619/http://www.eo.com/index.html, as I just did. Find the press releases at http://web.archive.org/web/19980703122338/www.eo.com/presrel/presrel.idc )
What I was referring to was the sort of cautious distance EO first displayed towards me when I first contacted them regarding the television show I was writing a script for (Conflict Inc.: Selling the Arts of War, http://www.cdi.org/adm/Transcripts/1113 ).
It took a bit of convincing and a lot of emails as I recall before they accepted that I was what I said I was; someone wishing to do a straightforward show on private security contractors. EO was not the only one in the show, by the way. I also looked at MPRI, for example. But once we got over that EO was entirely helpful and professional. They even provided video footage, something none of the other firms I talked to at the time were willing to do.
In retrospect I can understand EO’s caution towards me, having already been quite unfairly hammered by almost everyone. Although I recall that Elizabeth Rubin did a pretty good piece in Harper’s Magazine on EO back in 1997.
David
February 7th, 2009 at 2:30 pm
“Guys like Pelton or Steve Fainaru write books about a ride along they had on a convoy operation, and they now become experts on the industry.”
like I said when bloggers start to actually fact check…..
There is no comparison between Fainaru and myself. Steve is a journalist hired to cover the PMC world by a newspaper long after I wrote my book. His book focuses on the lowest hanging fruit of all. Crescent (and he didn’t spend a lot of time “Riding along”inside Iraq. I spent a month doing route Irish every day in late 04 with Blackwater…but I also spent three years meeting with the key players, at their place of work their homes and on the job. Before that I spent hard time in many other places that I have never written about.
I have spent my own money and time since 1975 to research, interview and understand the world of mercenaries, private security so I find it odd that you want journos to respect the complexity and variety of the PMC world but you lump me and my work in with a journo like Fainaru or Scahill. The proof is in the book, there simply is no comparison but yet we get lumped together…just like the PMC companies do :))
Its good to see Eeben weighing in on the importance of media access because I/O should have been a major part of the current PMC effort but instead State Dept and their commercial clients shut them up.
Jake, Good forum by the way. And for the record have you actually read my Licence to Kill, Hunter Hammer & Heaven or any of my work. It sounds like you haven’t.
RYP
February 7th, 2009 at 2:34 pm
Thanks for your response, David.
Yes, you are quite correct that we became all the more cautious about anyone claiming to be writing an article, doing a documentary or any such thing, especially after being conned the way we were with Journeyman’s Mark Stukey.
Despite my jaundiced view of the media at that time, I still insisted that we issue press releases and if anyone wrote untruths, we could then refer back to what we had sent the media. There were however some journalists who were very honest in their reporting: Paul Beaver of Jane’s, Jeremy Thompson of Sky, ZB du Toit of Beeld, Elizabeth Rubin of Harpers, Christiana Ammanpour of CBS 60 minutes and so on – but they were a mere handful. If I recall correctly, Du Toit was disciplined from writing something neutral-to-positive on EO.
So we became possibly too cautious but we had very little choice in the matter. If we said anything we were damned – if we said nothing, we were also damned. A tough spot to be in.
Rgds,
Eeben
February 7th, 2009 at 9:42 pm
“Guys like Pelton or Steve Fainaru write books about a ride along they had on a convoy operation, and they now become experts on the industry.”
like I said when bloggers start to actually fact check…..
————–
This is a statement in your Licensed to Kill book:
Working in violent areas and being given a license to kill can be frightening to some and an addictive adrenaline rush to others. It is impossible to predict how successfully the thousands of security contractors now working in Iraq will integrate back into normal civilian life after their wellspring of employment dries up. (page 342)
I was not issued a license to kill in Iraq. My job, as was most, was to defend lives and property. Using our weapons was only associated with the defense of something (persons, convoy, camp, etc.), just like an armed guard at a bank has the right to defend bank employees and the bank. You had a cool idea for a book, but the title, and this very idea that we are a bunch of murderers licensed to do whatever we want to do is not true, and is a slap in the face of this industry and all that have died doing this job.
I stand by what I said in my comments as well. My views about your work, come from reading all of your books and articles and by participating on your forum for the last ten years. Your forum is classic, because if anyone wanted to get the real RYP and his opinion on BW and the industry, you could go there. To say I don’t have my facts checked, is risible. But hey, you brought it up. lol
My challenge to Pelton, and I have given this challenge before on his forum, is to show me this support you have for the piece you wrote about Blackwater in your book. I am still waiting for one of those individuals you wrote about, to personally contact me, and let me know that they felt fairly represented in your book?
I would also like to know why there was no mention of thanks to Blackwater for putting their life on the line to defend you on your ‘ride along’? I say ride along, because you are always careful to say that you are not a journalist, and embed would give the impression that you were a journalist.
That, and you picked up a gun, and write about your insistence that you were one of them. I was curious, did you sign a Rules for the Use of Force agreement, before you decided to pick up a gun? Where was your ‘license to kill’, to use your terminology? Were you authorized to have a weapon and use it on that contract? Realisticly, you have every right to defend yourself, but hey, you brought up this concept of license to kill.
Also, I have yet to see anyone in the industry defend your article about BW in the forums. Nor have you ever posted on the forums, and faced the scrutiny of this industry. SOCNET, Lightfighter, Secure Aspects, Tactical Forums, Get Off the X, etc. Where is this outpouring of support?
Now I am not saying that it is a bad book, or that your view on the industry does not come with some merit. Hell, I pimp it out in my Jundi Gear store. You even questioned practices, and applied scrutiny, and that was great. But solutions? Nope. Fair representation? Nope. Favorable review by those that were there? Nope.
Your a travel author, that wrote a story about security contractors. It would be like me visiting a Chrysler plant in Detroit, and writing a book and then later on doing the talk show circuit, to expound on my ‘profound expertise of Chrysler and the car industry’.
Or here is a better analogy that you can understand. It would be like me working in Iraq, and writing an entire danger travel book about all the bad ass countries in the world, and calling myself an expert on the subject. Does working in Iraq, on some green zone gig, qualify me to write on touring in Iraq or other dangerous places in the world? And I know guys like you would tear it apart, because you are a maven on danger travel.
Even the title of your book is offensive. Are you being fair with a title like that, or are you just selling books? I am just curious, because the title of your book does an excellent job of promoting a ridiculous stereotype of what we are.
Your a step up from Peter Singer and way above Scahill, but that is about it. You are a travel author, that wrote a book called Licensed to Kill. And I am still waiting for those guys you wrote about, to personally contact me or come on your forum or this site and give us the thumbs up on your book.
The proof of a good book in my opinion, is that the guys you wrote it about, actually support it and even promote it.
But back to the topic at hand– Media relations. Pelton is an interesting case for media relations. He is a maven, but not for the PMC industry. He is a maven for danger travel books, and mercenaries and PMC’s are a sideline theme in his travel books. He doesn’t care about the industry, it’s just another angle to sell books with. Yet the MSM loves to quote anything he says, as if it is the end all. Pelton filled an information void with his book, much like Scahill and others filled that void, and because PMC/PSC’s were not filling that void first or conducting effective media relations, they in turn got this kind of treatment in print.
Prince did give Pelton some access, but I guarantee after the book and articles came out Prince didn’t want to talk with him. And because Pelton was buddies with the CEO of Hart, of course he was going to promote Hart in the book instead of BW. Perhaps if Prince was aware of that bias first, he could have been prepared? Or did some research and found out that Tim Spicer (CEO of Aegis) had sued Pelton over some written stuff. A good media relations team could have caught that.
The other thing to note about Pelton, is he had a forum that he was very active on. Blackwater could have totally read that forum, and got a feel for what Pelton was like. You would be surprised by how many journalists and authors hang out on various forums and what not, and that is an area to get some perspective from. Also if companies just took the time to read their stuff, companies could be prepared.
Also, I want to disclose that I consider Pelton a friend.(I know it might not seem like that, but it is true-lol) We have known each other through his forum for years, and I highly recommend his travel books. I grew up on that stuff, and those books are the ones that inspired me to travel–and he should stick to travel books. He also knows that I am one of the few out there to call him out on his crap when he steps over the line, or when he is wrong. He has done the same with me over the years, and the dialogue has been pretty honest and brutal sometimes. But it is also pretty cool and I have been thankful for his honesty and his friendship. Cheers.
February 9th, 2009 at 3:23 am
Matt,
I have a problem with a number of things you say because they are simply not true or you make things up and ask me to refute them.
A good book absolutely does not require the support of the people in it. Erik Prince was a fan of mine and gave me his first on the record interview. Later when he realized that I knew far more about him that he wanted anyone to know he threatened me. Tim Spicer went apeshit when I found out how his contract was awarded, how his man was tossed out of Iraq and the truth that is not part of any PR program. More importantly Tim Spicer has never sued me. He has threatened me, threatened my publisher and I responded by meeting him in his office surrounded by his lawyer and partner. If people like Erik don’t like what I write, then they should listen to their former employees who gave me more dirt than I ever needed. But that doesn’t mean I don’t support the idea of private security, mercenaries or even the use of privatization in warfare. I just think that there needs to be less focus on size and more on performance.
So the truth requires being both critical and supportive. I have said both good and bad things about BW. You seem to forget I do my best to meet these people, spend quality time with them and understand them. So please don’t make up things that don’t exist. I fail to see why people in my book need to contact you to confirm that I am actually a normal, unbiased, laid back person.
Erik not only gave me complete access, I even taught classes at Moyock. I spent a week at Lord Westbury’s house in Cyprus, a week at Triple Canopy training etc etc. I don’t know where you come with this anger from the industry towards me. I have hooked people up with jobs, lent them money, gave them advice and fought for them when they were being screwed over by their employers or the USG. So you probably need more info before you make assumptions.
In closing you say I am your friend (I have never met you) and you make up shit about me that isn’t true. So I don’t get your point. You are wrong. I have many friends in many places, but I don’t suffer fools and I don’t need to make things up. If someone comes across in my book as an idiiot, criminal or hero…you can bet good money that I did him or her justice in my portrait.
I do one thing above all. I go anywhere, I fear no man, no place, no confrontation and I write the truth.
The title License to Kill” is based on the presidential directive given to the SAD and then the waiver contractors were given in Iraq by Bremer. I don’t have memberships on those other forums but anyone can register on my forum and unlike many authors I am happy to answer questions. In any case Matt, I don’t make up things about you and ask you to defend them so I don’t quite get your point. My book is by far the most level headed, in depth view of an industry that has both good and bad elements.
RYP
February 9th, 2009 at 7:45 am
Cool, because I don’t fear big media types like yourself either. Nor do I make things up about you, like you have proclaimed. Because everything the reader wants to know about you, is all open source and very public. Hell, you even have a wikipedia page.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_young_pelton
You are the one with the books, the Mens Journal articles, the appearances on television and news shows. I am just the little guy that writes in a blog about the security contracting industry. Is this how you normally treat the public or little guys like me? ( I would hate to be in your fan club. lol)
By the way Robert (I mean Mr. Pelton), my name is Matt, but my username is Jumper on your forum (not that you forgot or anything) Your forum is called the Black Flag Cafe(BFC), just to clarify for the readership. If the reader thinks I am out of line, they can certainly go to your forum and check the archives with a basic search. They would get a kick out of the place, and I have certainly enjoyed hanging out there over the years. (you can thank me later for plugging the flag)
http://comebackalive.com/phpBB3/?f=1
I have also had many discussions with you about your supposed ‘industry support’ over the years. We have also discussed politics, and every other subject under the sun. The funny thing is, is that most of the contractors that actually hang out on your forum, have very interesting things to say about you as well. But like I said, I will let the reader decide for themselves.
The other point I would like to make, is who are you to tell me what I should think about your book? Are you that thin skinned, that you can’t take a little criticism from a industry blogger like myself? Didn’t you just say “I do one thing above all. I go anywhere, I fear no man, no place, no confrontation and I write the truth”? Hollow words if you ask me. Especially for a guy, that wrote an entire book about my industry, yet has never registered on any of the industry forums to seek their opinions and support. But I guess their support isn’t that important to you?
Finally, I still promote your books and forum with links on my blog because I do like your travel books. Your knowledge on travel to bad places is excellent, and you are certainly a maven in that regard. I have also been an active contributor on your forum for years, and certainly added value there to. But hey, whatever floats your boat Mr. Pelton.
PS–I am still waiting for any contractors to contact me, and tell me otherwise about my assessments?
February 9th, 2009 at 11:17 pm
Matt,
RYP is a lot of things, but a big media type he isn’t.
David
February 10th, 2009 at 10:17 pm
Matt,
You calling me a “big media type” is like you complaining about journos calling contractors “mercenaries”. I have worked for some of the big names but only because they came to me about access I had. I prefer to do my own thing and I take great pains to tell people that i am not a journalist. What I do is strictly up to me and I would like to think that prevents me from having to pander to the special interests and biases of the media. It makes me terribly out of step with things but in the long run I think my work shows a clear vision of the future and what is important in the area of conflict.
You seem to be trying to pigeonhole me because I have been in the media and people seek out my opinion. Could it be that i actually have a intelligent perspective that is unclouded by popular perception or a need to sell a one dimensional view of a subject? Could an industry and its players be both praised and criticized by an outsider who has spent years at the top and the bottom and even with the enemy and people they work amongst? Food for thought.
Matt, I enjoy critiques of my work.. but when you invent scenarios, opinions or events, I have to point out that many of the things you are sayin are not true. That’s not being ‘thin skinned” its corrected the public record. If you were a real writer you would actually have to the research, get multiple sets of input and check your facts:)
For the record. I was not/am not disliked by the BW team I spent a month with. Some forum trolls like Ben Thomas and others used to spread rumors and I shut them down. Thomas graciously apologized to my friends and me, deleted what he said and I have no beef with him. But I see a lot of keyboard cowboys who invent a reason to hate someone but never actually think to independently check the facts. Oddly enough the same thing I hear PMC folks complaining about journos
I was given an M4 and gear because they wanted help if we got into shoot out. I did my job, they did theirs. I did not use the M4 nor do I have a need of a firearm in my travels. When the team was blown up months after I left I was in touch with the people I knew. And as I said, I was there for a number of people mentioned in my book when they were fucked around by their employers
I don’t invent opinions or trash people to sell books and my main focus is on learning more about things that intrigue me. I haven’t focused on contractors for a long time and I spend most of my time in Somalia or focused on pirates, I also keep my hand in counterinsurgency consulting and tracking new developments in conflict.
I don’t seek support from an industry and I am still trying to figure out why I must quit my day job and play typing whack-a-mole on forums populated mostly with grumpy old men that don’t have jobs. I have my own website and anyone is welcome to join or contact me. You are also a welcome part of our community but you do need to understand the standards that writers are held to are not the same as bloggers. Media mavens and experts have even less oversight…:))
I spend most of my time in the field so I don’t consider the internet much more than a place to exchange opinions and do research.
By the way if you consider me a “travel writer”, I used to be a publisher and owned a travel guide company but I haven’t written a travel book since Borneo back in 94 (which took three years and god knows how many expeditions to research it). I write books, articles, make films and do consulting.
You seem more impressed that you should be about people who are on TV. If you have seen some of the latest reality and “survival” shows…you will know why I don’t focus that much on TV anymore
I am answering your questions out of courtesy but I can’t argue about things that don’t exist or misconceptions that you insist I correct.
in any case I wish you the best and I am always around to answer any specific questions but please, keep it real.
RYP
February 11th, 2009 at 1:54 am
Mr. Pelton,
Thanks for taking the time to answer. I am still waiting to hear from this outpouring of support that you have in the security contracting industry. My email is headjundi@feraljundi.com if anyone is interested.
A couple of points. You say you are not big media? I beg to differ and I would ask the reader to once again visit your wikipedia page if they would like proof. I know you don’t see it that way, but that is the truth of the matter. Just read the intro on your wiki for pete sake. (and maybe you should get rid of the journalist part, if that is what you believe you are not)
“Robert Young Pelton (b. July 25, 1955, Edmonton, Canada), is an author, journalist and documentary filmmaker. A self-styled adventurer, he considers himself a “witness” to conflict, rather than a serious journalist. He has witnessed conflicts such as the siege of Grozny in Chechnya, the battle of Qala-I-Jangi in Afghanistan, the rebel campaign to take Monrovia in Liberia. He embedded himself with the CIA during the hunt for Bin Laden, and spent time with both insurgents and Blackwater security contractors during the war in Iraq.[1]
Pelton’s regularly published guide The World’s Most Dangerous Places, which provides practical and survival information for people who work and travel in high risk zones, was a best seller.[2] He was also host of the Discovery Travel Channel series “Robert Young Pelton’s The World’s Most Dangerous Places” from 1998 to 2003. Now residing in Los Angeles, California, Pelton currently writes books and produces documentaries on conflict-related subjects. He is a popular interview subject appearing as an insightful expert with ground experience or as an often humorous raconteur of his various misfortunes and safety tips on shows as diverse as Oprah, Conan O’Brien, CNN, Fox, BBC, ABC, CBS, NBC and others. Most recently he has been in negotiations with the President of Equatorial Guinea regarding the arrested coup plotters, many of whom had worked for Executive Outcomes in the mid-1990s. The story behind the coup and his efforts to free Nick du Toit and Simon Mann are documented in the May 2008 Men’s Journal “How to Stage a Coup”.”
So that is your first mistake, to somehow present yourself as just one of the guys here. From my point of view, and from the point of view of most people, you are big media. Maybe not Anderson Cooper or Lou Dobbs big media or whatever, but your are still at a level of media that is pretty foreign to most of us.
Next. You said this:
“Matt, I enjoy critiques of my work.. but when you invent scenarios, opinions or events, I have to point out that many of the things you are sayin are not true. That’s not being ‘thin skinned” its corrected the public record. If you were a real writer you would actually have to the research, get multiple sets of input and check your facts:)”
Invented opinion? Is that supposed to be a negative thing?. I either have a positive opinion about your stuff, or a negative opinion about your stuff. People invent or ‘create’ a personal opinion about stuff all the time, and everyone has an opinion. The guys in this industry either have a positive opinion about you, or a negative opinion about you and your books, and of course they have to create or invent an opinion. That is what you do after you read a book. So are you saying I am inventing my dislike with portions of your book? That secretly I like everything about it, and agree with it all? Pffft.
Next. I also asked you if you signed any agreements or contracts, allowing you to use that weapon, and you dodged the answer with this statement below. I didn’t ask if you had a right to defend yourself, I asked if you signed a RUF so that you would know the rules for the use of force, and that you in fact had a ‘license to kill’. I would think that a author who was writing a book about the subject, would at least know that much? This is important, because if you did not, you were in the wrong.
Do you have a military background or law enforcement background? Are you trained with that weapon by the standards of the company, and in accordance with the contract? It sounds to me that you did not meet any of these prerequisites. I put that on the Blackwater guys in charge of you, but I also point some blame at you for thinking that you were above all of that. I worked with medics that were fired for carrying a little pistol, and yet here you are, a travel author armed with an M-4 and playing mercenary for a book called ‘Licensed to Kill’?
And if you look at your book’s group photo, you are also wearing a chest rig. I would define that as a participant, and not just an observer. Like I said, what was your authorization to do such a thing? My authorization to be in Iraq started with a vetting by my companies, LOA’s, CAC card, and the signing of many contractual agreements about the use of force. I also signed non-disclosure agreements as well. Yet here you are, playing security specialist. Please tell me my facts and observations are wrong about your conduct?
Here is your statement:
I was given an M4 and gear because they wanted help if we got into shoot out. I did my job, they did theirs. I did not use the M4 nor do I have a need of a firearm in my travels.
On to the next point, and it speaks for itself.
Here is your statement:
I don’t seek support from an industry and I am still trying to figure out why I must quit my day job and play typing whack-a-mole on forums populated mostly with grumpy old men that don’t have jobs. I have my own website and anyone is welcome to join or contact me. You are also a welcome part of our community but you do need to understand the standards that writers are held to are not the same as bloggers. Media mavens and experts have even less oversight…:))
What standard is that? To come onto a ezine about the security contracting industry like this, and make comments like that? Talk about an ego-shall I go get you a bowl of brown M&M’s while you wait in the green room Mr. Petlon? :)))
But seriously, are you sure that this is the message you want to send to this industry? You write a book about us, yet could care less about what we think about it, and you’re ok with that?
In any case, I wish you all the best and keep it real next time your hanging out on Geraldo Rivera’s show on Fox News, or writing that next big article for Mens Journal or National Geographic, or writing your next book about Human Terrain Teams and Counter-insurgency. (eyes rolling)
Matt
February 11th, 2009 at 7:00 pm
I can’t spend the time to write a thesis length response Matt.
- If I am big media to you then I shudder to think if you could get a pair of Lara Logan panties.
- That Wiki actually sounds very anti media. Imagine being on the ground, in combat in 36 wars, negotiating releases for mercenaries and rescuing American jihadis. Like I said not very media-ish.
- Sign something to carry a gun in a war zone? Dude I am an edged weapon or frag grenade kinda guy and an M4 doesn’t do much against an IED. I disagree that being asked to wear protective armor and a full load out makes you a “participant”. Using it without provocation or under orders does. My conduct was exactly as it should have been, low key, non obtrusive and professional. And as I keep saying, I was not there as a journalist but as a writer and observer.
To do my job I sign nothing other than on my very first embed last summer to do the Men’s Journal article on HTTs.
I am commenting here because its a good blog and good forum…and you are directly addressing me.
Next book is a kids book and then my time with the Special Forces team in Afghanistan and then DP 6 followed by others.
One again you say I don’t care what people think…obviously if I write thought provoking books I do care, you original question is whether I had/have the support of the PSC industry and I said it is irrelevant to writing a book. You find the truth and write it down. The truth may by highly complimentary or deeply disturbing. In any case I won’t shape what I write or say to curry favor or unfairly malign an industry. I do have a sense of humor so perhaps people take it the wrong way.
By the way I am not dodging your questions, I just don’t a lot of time to dedicate to typing answers to questions that have already been answered or are irrelevant.
So if there is anything you need to know Matt…you know where to find me…. my fingers hurt…
February 12th, 2009 at 7:51 pm
“By the way I am not dodging your questions, I just don’t a lot of time to dedicate to typing answers to questions that have already been answered or are irrelevant.” -RYP
——————
“I don’t seek support from an industry and I am still trying to figure out why I must quit my day job and play typing whack-a-mole on forums populated mostly with grumpy old men that don’t have jobs. I have my own website and anyone is welcome to join or contact me. ” -RYP
——————-
Hey, Do I sense dissonance here? Bloggers are just ticks on the media dog so what is going to happen when they actually have to expense, copy edit, pay usage fees, fact check and hire lawyers…they become the thing they hate the most…the MEDIA. -RYP
——————-
my fingers hurt -RYP
*************************
Get that looked at Pelton, us bloggers wouldn’t want you to hurt yourself or anything? :)))
October 6th, 2009 at 5:18 pm
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