Khaivien's Story—Corey Flintoff

Covering Iraq

By Khainien Thach

National Public Radio newscaster and foreign correspondent, Corey Flintoff, spoke to Utah State University students Wednesday afternoon about the challenges of covering the war in Iraq, as part of USU’s ongoing Media and Society Lecture series.

Flintoff talked about the struggle that he and other reporters have had reporting on a war with a constantly changing front. He compared the war to a “Hydra” with many different heads like the different strategies and targets that have been seen in the war, he said.

“When one head is muzzled, another arises,” said Flintoff. He also said that reporters need to figure out how to report with constant change in Iraq and interpret what is being told.

With so many different “heads” in the war, another challenge is getting enough reporters to cover them all, said Flintoff. To have a reporter in Iraq requires paying for living expenses, transportation, satellite feeds, and security. A one-way car ride from the airport costs $2,800, he said. The high cost for one reporter in Iraq makes it hard to send enough people over to cover the war.

Because of the price to send American journalists to Iraq, Flintoff said that many reporters hire Iraqis to be informants for them.

“Those are the people that can get out and do the day-to-day leg work,” said Flintoff.

But hiring Iraqi informants is another challenge itself. Many informants that are known to have relations with NPR or other American journalists suffer beatings and kidnapped family members who are held for ransom, said Flintoff.

Because the security situation is so difficult, and information is so limited to journalists, Flintoff said that it is hard to give a genuine picture of Iraq. Reports and claims that are made are hard to investigate, even if you see it happening, he said.

One question that he is often asked, said Flintoff, is how safe it is to be a reporter in Iraq and how that affects his reporting. Because of kidnappings and the target that American journalists are for militia, reporters can’t move independently through the area, he said. The restrictions make it difficult for journalists to get the interviews and stories that they want, he said.

Flintoff said that he was pleased with those that he had met in the USU classes he attended and the intelligent discussions he had with knowledgeable students. He said that students being interested in the war, no matter if they are for or against it, is patriotic.

“I have been very, very impressed,” said Flintoff.

The Media and Society Lecture series is sponsored by the Associated Students of Utah State University, the journalism and communication department, the political science department, and Utah Public Radio.

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