Remember you are journalists. Best not to give the impression you have never heard of Afghanistan, Iraq or Libya.
Baghdad, 2004
Things are slipping again. Would correspondents please note the following:
Remember you are journalists. It’s not a great look to be surprised at the mayhem caused by attacking Iran. Best not to give the impression you have never heard of Afghanistan, Iraq or Libya etc. Or that you didn’t read the Iranian memo about how they would respond.
Watch out for double standards becoming too blatant. Obviously no-one’s challenging the US’s right to destroy Cuban society by stopping it getting oil and gas. So it’s worth dialling down a bit on the outrage at Iran blocking oil tankers to try and survive as a country.
Lebanon is a country, even though it is majority Muslim. It includes ‘south Lebanon’. Another country setting up a ‘security zone’ there should be termed ‘an invasion.’
Given recent events, the phrase ‘Iran is the most dangerous country in the region’ needs some work.
When interviewing Israeli spokespersons try to avoid the impression that normal journalistic rules are suspended. Asking no probing questions at all comes across as odd. Also, there is no particular reason why you can’t bring up what has happened in Gaza over the last two and a half years if it feels relevant.
‘Taking out’ is a slightly over-casual description of the targeting of leaders of foreign countries with missiles etc. It might be interpreted as implying approval. If ‘assassination’ or ‘state murder’ feel too strong you could try plain old ‘killing.’
Worth noting that if this behaviour became the norm in international relations things could get chaotic.
Could someone add to the secret journalist manual that says ‘the Russian invasion of Ukraine’ must always be called ‘full-scale’, that the war on Iran should always be called ‘unprovoked and illegal’.
Pete Hegseth is clearly a psychopath.
Good to be discussing ‘off ramps’. These don’t have to involve only things that won’t hurt Trump or Netanyahu’s feelings. One option worth floating could be that the countries that started the war stop the bombing. This could ease tensions in the region considerably.
