NBC Correspondent Richard Engel Freed from Captors in Syria – Yahoo!.
NBC News correspondent Richard Engel, and his crew, were released at a checkpoint in Syria this morning after being captured 5 days ago just after crossing the border into Syria from Turkey. This is fantabulous news.
While I’m truly glad that Engel and his entire team made it back safely and unharmed, I have to ask: why the holy fuck would you willingly enter a war-torn country mired in civil war just for the purposes of gathering information to be released via the media? Is any information gathered there worth your life? Is your job that vitally important? You are a frickin’ reporter, not a spy or a soldier. It’s hard to feel sorry for someone who voluntarily puts themself into a situation like that.
I mean, there are jobs where it’s worth putting your life on the line. A cop. A firefighter. An EMT. A soldier. A McDonald’s taste-tester. I may have made that last one up. Either way, reporting the news is not one of those occupations.
When did breaking news stories become something worth dying for? We all know Syria is in the midst of civil war. What did Engel and his team need to sneak into the country for? What did they hope to find out? What were they going to tell us that we didn’t already know?
“Well, I won’t be doing THAT shit again,” remarked Engel upon disembarking from this vehicle.
I was watching the news a few years ago after a hurricane had made landfall somewhere in Louisiana. I can’t remember if it was Katrina or some other hurricane, but I distinctly remember Al Roker reporting from the eye of the hurricane.
Al Roker is one of the most prominent meteorologists in the country, folks. Why send him, or anyone for that matter, into the storm? What could he have told us about the storm that he couldn’t tell us from the safety of his New York studios? Why endanger Roker, or the crew that went with him, just to tell us things that could be learned without sending these people into harm’s way?
Media bias and stupidity astound me. You can bet your sweet ass that if I were a reporter and I was ordered into the middle of a civil war, a hurricane, or something else equally as dangerous, this is what my boss would see:
It just ain’t happening. I’m not risking my life for some unworthy cause and Richard Engel, Al Roker, nor any other reporter should have to, either.
What do you think, dear reader? Do you agree or am I up on my soapbox for no good reason?
Well, I won’t say you’re up there for NO good reason, but …
Information on what is happening in the world is important, and the most reliable information is first-hand through trusted sources. Walter Cronkite was a war journalist in WWII, so was Andy Rooney. Dan Rather. Reporters went ashore in the first wave at Normandy. Sometimes they were for the military (Stars & Stripes, etc.) others for networks or newspapers. Hemmingway reported on the Spanish Civil War. They aren’t forced to do it, but they do have a calling.
Are they crazy to do it? Absolutely. Do we, and does history have a better picture of what happened when and to whom? Absolutely.
I’m glad he’s safe. (But if he were my son, I’d throttle him.)
But is that information really worth the danger they put themselves in? I just don’t think it is.
You don’t have to make that choice — it is their right to do so.
But how else will we know what is happening. From the Syrian government? Without a free press, with brave folks who are willing to face incredible dangers themselves, we won’t know what is happening. And especially as Americans, the only remaining superpower, we need to have our information based in facts.
But of course I wouldn’t go if my life depended on it. Possibly because I am old and out of shape and would die really early on ….
I guess my questions is: why do we need to know? How does it affect us?
I’m not saying that they shouldn’t have the right to make that choice, I just didn’t understand the logic in making the decision. This information is not vital to the majority of Americans. It doesn’t affect us one way or another.
I have no doubt that the government is keeping close tabs on what’s going on over there, but I just don’t see the need to endanger people just so people like you or I know.
It might just affect us quite a bit. John McCain is itching for another war. Wanna go on just his say so? That’s what happened when we went into Iraq looking for WMDs. How do we know wether it is worth risking our manpower and our treasure in Syria — or how can we rally people to make sure we don’t risk anything.
We are called upon to be the world’s peacekeeper/warmaker. We need to know what is happening and one of the ways (not the only one) is by brave, incredibly brave folks like Richard Engel.
I doubt the government is relying on folks like Richard Engel for their information. I’m sure they have spies or other means to obtain the information they need.
And if John McCain somehow convinces congress to approve another war there’s not much you or I can do to dissuade them, whether we’re armed with facts from Richard Engel or not.
I personally think it’s time we stopped trying to be the world police and focus on the problems within our own borders. Most countries out there don’t want our help anyways.
If Al or anyone freely decides to go into a hurricane and gets thumped my laughter will not be stifled. If they are made to your meme applies to their bosses.
I agree that most counties don’t want our help. If the situation was reversed, we’d be telling or forcing them to GTFO. Our armed forces should defend us, if we are attacked. If those counties want to wipe each other from the map and it doesn’t affect us, we should stay out. The civilian casualties would be sad, don’t get me wrong. Regarding the journalist who decides to enter the zone, he is doing so.at his own risk.
I completely agree.
I don’t know man, but I do know it can also influence some ridiculously fabricated stuff. This year a friend of mine saw a reporter pretending to be forcefully blown over by Hurricane Isaac in New Olreans while pedestrians were walking around just fine, just for the “interesting story”.
I’ve seen clips on YouTube of other reporters doing that, too. Like the camera accidentally captures the industrial sized fan that’s supposed to be off-camera simulating the high-speed winds.
It’s silly.
Sensationalization sells.
Unfortunately.