posted
On a night like no other when America’s open and democratic virtues were put on worldwide display, an ill-advised policy within the Department of Defense proclaimed to servicemembers and the news media alike: “No you can’t.” What a servicemember and a journalist couldn’t do, the policy drafters ordered, was engage in conversation on a military base as the returns from a momentous election rolled in.
Stars and Stripes’ plans for providing news of Tuesday’s election started out with a new and seemingly innocent twist, tied to the opportunities of the new media. Reporters were to go to the common areas of bases and observe the reaction of servicemembers as the voting was tallied and shown on TV and the Internet. They were then to file to Stripes’ Web site, via “twitter,” an electronic form for sending brief, staccato messages.
The Stripes editor in charge of the Pacific, Tom Skeen, explained that the reporters were to “go to common public areas on bases to capture the flavor of Election Day for a color story … [and] to simply observe and record what folks are doing and saying as the returns come in.” He said this in a message to the Office of the Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs (OSDPA) in the Pentagon, after, as a courtesy, he had advised the offices of U.S. Forces Japan.
The notification was one of “courtesy” because there was little reason to believe the plan would cause any problems. After all, the assignments called only for what is known as color, or atmospheric, coverage. The areas where this was to take place were public; only six months before, a memorandum sent worldwide by the former deputy assistant secretary of defense for public affairs, Allison Barber, had stated that “S&S reporters are entitled to pursue the news in the common areas of military facilities, such as shopping areas, MWR facilities, areas open to general public or common facilities in housing areas.”
But that wasn’t good enough for the Pentagon officials who received Skeen’s message. Permission denied, they said. And not only in Skeen’s Pacific bailiwick, but worldwide. “As a matter of long standing policy, DoD personnel are to avoid engaging in activities that could associate the Department with any partisan election,” Maj. Stewart T. Upton wrote after conferring with others. Appeals to OSDPA were unsuccessful.
What servicemembers say while in uniform can be construed as a position of the DOD, the officials said. No matter that servicemembers, identified by name, rank and location, express themselves regularly in letters to the editor of newspapers, and in blogs. No matter that every DOD restriction placed on uniformed servicemembers with respect to politics speaks explicitly of “official capacity” actions — giving a speech, writing a column, being active in a political event such as a demonstration. No matter that Congress has clearly stated that both Stars and Stripes and “military personnel on the frontiers of freedom” must be protected by the free speech provisions of the First Amendment.
There were other arguments for barring Stripes from this fairly routine election coverage exercise. For one thing, the officials said, commercial media were not being allowed to go on bases to cover election reaction, so Stripes also should not be. This is a recurring argument that ignores the unique position of Stripes — unique not only within the U.S. government but probably within any government in the world. It has been created and is supported within the DOD to provide news and information to troops in a way that no other civilian media want to do or can do. Stripes staffers work from offices on base. They have DOD ID cards. They live and work in many respects as servicemembers themselves do. And there is no small number of active-duty personnel on assignment to Stripes as editors, reporters and photographers.
In the face of the OSDPA pronouncement, which Skeen said left him “flabbergasted,” Editorial Director Terry Leonard ordered reporters to go about their tasks on election night, in base common areas. If confronted by authorities, they were to state their objections and leave peaceably. This is exactly the procedure that reporters use everywhere when, for instance, they are ordered out of courtroom or have an improper gag order imposed on them by a judge. State your case, cause no further fuss, and get out.
As the evening wore on, the ban sent out from the Pentagon was enforced in a few Pacific bases — Sasebo Naval Base in Japan and Camp Humphreys and Yongsan Garrison in South Korea. As of this writing, no other confrontations have been reported. Stripes staffers in other places were able to observe the election night atmosphere on base — in some cases the folks were more engaged by non-election television fare — and talk to several servicemembers, none of whom, as far as I could tell, said anything that would make anybody blush.
The difficulty with this unnecessary policy edict is not with how it played out around the world last night, but in any precedent officials see it as setting. It needs to be rolled back. It is unworthy of the principles DOD defends, of generous mandates from Congress, of the mood of the day.
posted
Most of the polls of service members showed a 75-25 split in favor of John McCain. That is in line with most past elections. Military people, by their very nature, tend to be conservative.
Posts: 2069 | From: Texas | Registered: Sep 2008
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posted
Very interesting that Ron Paul received 10x the military vote then Rudy Gullini.
Posts: 3595 | From: Moved To Mars. Waiting with shotgun | Registered: Dec 2006
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quote:Originally posted by TheAmericanPatriot: Most of the polls of service members showed a 75-25 split in favor of John McCain. That is in line with most past elections. Military people, by their very nature, tend to be conservative.
Please back up your projections. I also doubt it is that much - otherwise why try to silence them?
Posts: 71 | Registered: Oct 2008
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quote:Originally posted by TheAmericanPatriot: Most of the polls of service members showed a 75-25 split in favor of John McCain. That is in line with most past elections. Military people, by their very nature, tend to be conservative.
Please back up your projections. I also doubt it is that much - otherwise why try to silence them?
Smiley, FYI, Hammer never backs up anything. Might as well not hold your breath on that one. He just spews it out regardless if there are any facts to back it up. I think it has something to do with the whole republican speaking from the gut thing. Posts: 3891 | From: No good deed goes unpunished. | Registered: May 2007
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Gold, all you have to do is put the information in the search engine and the data comes up. I do not have time to do that. In fact, if you do not like the information I post you can take it or leave it, I could care less.
Posts: 2069 | From: Texas | Registered: Sep 2008
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quote:Originally posted by TheAmericanPatriot: Gold, all you have to do is put the information in the search engine and the data comes up. I do not have time to do that. In fact, if you do not like the information I post you can take it or leave it, I could care less.
I hope service personal, enlisted officers are were not told what they can and cannot blog about the election.
If I remember right Nader in 2000 has a larger percentage of votes from military personal than the private citizens.
Posts: 107 | Registered: Oct 2008
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The veterans are demanding Bush administration be tried for war crimes, crimes against humanity, and crimes against peace; asking the media to clearly inform the public of the administration's crimes; and encouraging citizens to take similar nonviolent actions.
The veterans are demanding Bush administration be tried for war crimes, crimes against humanity, and crimes against peace; asking the media to clearly inform the public of the administration's crimes; and encouraging citizens to take similar nonviolent actions.Posts: 71 | Registered: Oct 2008
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posted
This must be a post from the computer lab of the local mental institution. Out of a couple of million American service people you will find guys who beat and kill their wives and a few others who want the President put on trial. I wonder if they advocate also charging the democrats in Congress, the United Nations General Assembly and the American State department and CIA as well. It would also be nice if they actually had a valid charge to discuss.
Posts: 2069 | From: Texas | Registered: Sep 2008
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Might as well not hold your breath on that one. He just spews it out regardless if there are any facts to back it up. I think it has something to do with the whole republican speaking from the gut thing. ![[Big Grin]](biggrin.gif)
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