Josh's Story—Corey Fintoff

Corey Flintoff NPR Correspondent
By Joshua Arriola

Corey Flintoff walked onto the stage with an air like he had something really important to say, which he did. His speech on reporting the war in Iraq was very eye opening . Him describing how hard it was to interview someone and be in an environment where bombs are going off and gunfire is being traded back and forth almost makes it not worth being a journalist. Yet he reported the war in Iraq with style.

Flintoff is a NPR correspondent who started out at Alaska Public Radio, affectionately called the "Alaskan Mafia." and was the familiar voice on the show "All Things Considered." for 17 years In the summer 2005 he became a foreign correspondent covering places like Jerusalem, Haiti, and Iraq.

He elaborated on the war in Iraq mostly talking about the military presence and the hardship of getting a genuine report to America. He said that censorship by the military is nonexistent because of the difficulty in reporting. Stories of kidnapping interpreters, bombs, and shootings kept all the audience in rapt attention.

Flintoff admonished the journalists that even though they're seeing the exact same things the soldiers are seeing to not to be biased in what you report. As well he spoke on the number of journalist that are covering the war. "!,500-2000 journalists covered the invasion of Iraq in 2003, but today there are only about 74 journalist there today". The war has become old news.

Again Flintoff about the difficult in getting to Iraq. He said that NPR spend a lot of money to get someone to Iraq and just as much to get them out.

At the end of the speech people asked questions about the difference of Shiite and Sunni factions. Shiite he said are ones who believe that the succession of Islam should be the direct descendents of Mohammed and no one else. The Sunni believe it should be handed down to Mohammed's companions. It's funny to think that that's what this whole civil war in Iraq is about.

Flintoff, walked off the stage with a smile on his face. He looked like he had accomplished what he had come to talk about, the difficulty of reporting.

What do you think? Hit “Comments” link below.