The relationship between the American media and the military has often been adversarial. However, while the news media pats itself on the back for reporting the truth in war (e.g., the My Lai Massacre), we also have examples of the media “enhancing” stories (sometimes with Pentagon collusion). America went to war with Spain in 1898 due to the circulation-boosting yellow journalism articles. It was the Hearst’s New York Journal that published a story (and sensational artist’s rendition) of a Cuban woman who was strip-searched by leering Spanish officials. The truth was much less interesting and did not involve mistreatment or nudity. Another example was the lionizing of bomber pilot Colin Kelly in the dark days after Pearl Harbor. He was credited with sinking a battleship when the ship was damaged and it wasn’t a battleship. But that sort of public manipulation doesn’t occur any more, right?
In 2003, the U.S. went to war with Saddam Hussein’s Iraq. Infamously, the American media pushed the narrative that Hussein had weapons of mass destruction and was a threat to use them. The admonition that “truth is the first casualty in war” did not cause the news media to question this. It was considered unpatriotic to question the George W. Bush administration justification for the war. This was an example of media swallowing a story whole. Another type of media malpractice is the quest for human interest stories without proper vetting (e.g. Colin Kelly). The Jessica Lynch story is an example of this.
Jessica Lynch was a 19-year-old clerk in the 507th Ordnance Maintenance Company. On March 23, 2003, her convoy took a wrong turn and was ambushed. 11 Americans were killed and 4 (including Lynch) were captured. Since American losses were light at the beginning of the war, the news media was on the look out for stories with casualties and here was one with an attractive white female soldier. And she was a blonde! The Washington Post broke the story, based on unnamed sources. Americans learned that Jessica had suffered numerous stab and bullet wounds, but still managed to shoot several of the enemy. On March 31, 2003, she was rescued in a daring raid of the hospital by both Army Rangers and Navy SEALs. Lucky for the media, the raid was caught on night vision cameras and the Pentagon was only too happy to provide an edited video of the raid. Lynch returned to America a hero as the media covered her extensively and fleshed out the tale with reporting that she had been roughly handled by the enemy during interrogations at the hospital. Lynch wrote a book and a movie entitled “Saving Jessica Lynch” aired on NBC in November, 2003.
Cracks in the story began early. Lynch explained that she had no memory of the firefight, but her weapon had jammed, so there was no way she could have shot anyone. Her wounds were not combat related, she had broken bones from the crash of the truck she was in. She was not mistreated in the hospital and there had not even been any interrogation because the Iraqi soldiers had already pulled out. The medical staff had given her good care. The hero of the story was actually an Iraqi lawyer named Al-Rehaief. It was he that got word to American forces that she was in the hospital. Although, he passed on the information that there were no Iraqi soldiers in the hospital, the Americans took no chances in the raid to rescue her. The Rangers and SEALs agreed to share the glory. They stormed into the building and provided Hollywood style heroics that the American public ate up. The rescuers “put their lives on the line”. It was “like a Hollywood film”. One of those “inspired by a true story” films.
As teachers it is important that we don’t pass on stories that were proved false after the fact. History teachers should do reading outside the textbook to see if any red flags pop up.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2003/may/15/iraq.usa2
https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/jessica-lynch-gets-heros-welcome
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