The relationship between the media and the military is always evolving, but many themes persist. In the 10 years since the 9/11 attacks, the strength of that relationship has wavered at times, but both sides recognize the symbiotic nature of the relationship.
On Nov. 17, SPJ DC Pro and American University’s School of Communication hosted a program discussing how the relationship has changed and how the media and military can help each other.
The program opened with an “Inside the Actor’s Studio” style Q&A with Georgetown journalism grad student Allie Brennan interviewing Dan Kapavik, a Marine who led 52 Marines during a deployment to Afghanistan. He lost three of his men, a loss that was hard on his unit and on Kapavik as a leader.
The young Marine discussed his experiences with embedded reporters and his deployment experiences. He said that service members can have vastly different experiences depending on their deployed locations. His unit was involved in a shooting at a detention facility in Afghanistan when two detainees escaped last summer and used a grenade launcher to target an MV-22 Osprey with a 3-star Navy SEAL on board.
Louie Palu presented his work from the five years he spent, off and on, in Afghanistan and Iraq as a photographer. He went on more than 200 Medevac missions with the Army and on many combat patrols with the Marines. One of his greatest fears on these assignments was that he would step on a mine and lose his legs. His work has been featured on the cover of Newsweek; you may remember the covers featuring the portrait of a Marine.
Palu discussed the effort he made in getting to know the troops he was with and letting them get to know him. If the troops didn’t sleep and patrolled instead, Palu went on patrol with them. He went on as many missions as possible to capture the experience of the troops. He realized that the troops wanted to work with him as well so that their work would be documented, remembered. They wanted people to know “I was here,” Palu said.
Kapavik and Palu were joined by Bill Murphy of Stars and Stripes, Ryan Gallucci of Veterans of Foreign Wars and professor David Johnson of American’s SOC as a panel to discuss the evolution of military and veterans coverage since 9/11.
— Jenn Rowell