Tuesday, January 01, 2008
War journalism the way it ought to be
In a war, I think that news should be written like the sports pages -- when the local team wins a good newspaper ought to celebrate, and when it loses it should lament and inquire into the reasons. Behold an excellent example of the way that war journalism ought to be:
BRITISH commandos launched a devastating blitz on the Taliban – as the evil terrorists held a party to celebrate Benazir Bhutto’s murder.
The dawn raid was staged after messages were intercepted about the sick knees-up in Afghanistan’s Helmand province.
Royal Marines crept into position as the fanatics partied the night away just hours after Ms Bhutto was killed in Pakistan.
The bash was being held in ruined compounds a few hundred yards from Our Boys’ remote base in Kajaki.
Ragtag Taliban sentries tried to hit back with machine gun fire – but stood no chance against the heroes of 40 Commando’s Charlie Company.
The terrorists were pounded with mortars, rockets and heavy machine guns.
Two bloodthirsty revellers trying to creep towards Our Boys in a trench were spotted by thermal-imaging equipment – and targeted with a Javelin heat-seeking missile.
The £65,000 rocket – designed to stop Soviet tanks – locked on to their body heat and tore more than a kilometer across the desert in seconds.
Troop Sergeant Dominic Conway, 32 – who directed mortar rounds – grinned: “It must have had quite a detrimental effect on their morale.”
Sgt Conway, from Whitley Bay, Tyneside, said of the Taliban lair: “It used to be their backyard and now we’ve made it ours.”
Now that's great stuff. American newspapers could learn something from the British tabloids.
CWCID: Cold Fury.
5 Comments:
By 
, at
Tue Jan 01, 09:07:00 PM:
If American newspaper writers could write half as well as their British counterparts there would be lots more money being made in the industry, no matter the subject. American newspapers are awful, and the more self impressed they are institutionally the worse the writing inside the pages.
By 
antithaca, at
Tue Jan 01, 09:13:00 PM:
"Our Boys"...wouldn't it be nice if US papers could bring themsevles to say "American Soldiers"?
By D.E. Cloutier, at
Tue Jan 01, 10:14:00 PM:
Re: The Sun & the British press
From the 1980s British sitcom 'Yes, Prime Minister":
Jim Hacker says: "I know exactly who reads the papers: The Daily Mirror is read by people who think they run the country; The Guardian is read by people who think they ought to run the country; The Times is read by people who actually do run the country; The Daily Mail is read by the wives of the people who run the country; The Financial Times is read by people who own the country; The Morning Star is read by people who think the country ought to be run by another country; and The Daily Telegraph is read by people who think it is."
Sir Humphrey says: "Prime Minister, what about the people who read The Sun?"
Bernard Woolley says: "Sun readers don't care who runs the country, as long as she's got big tits."
Link:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Guardian
By mlah, at
Wed Jan 02, 02:33:00 AM:
i might actually read a paper if they wrote articles like that.
By , at
Wed Jan 02, 12:57:00 PM:
"The £65,000 rocket – designed to stop Soviet tanks"
Seems a bit pricy, wasn't there something available just as lethal but a tad cheaper?
