I havent been covering the happenings in Iraq, but  i decided i wanted to look a recent article about the body of US soldier, Private Jospeh Anzack being found in Iraq. Ii located the story intially in The Sydney Morning Herald and im interested to see whether the coverage and angle is the same. i am assuming the American papers will have a more emotive story. The Sydney Morning Herald (May 24)  tells the story in an objective position and a more narrative style.

The US military confirmed today that a body pulled from the Euphrates River near Baghdad was that of one of three missing US soldiers. Iraqi police said yesterday they had found the corpse of a Western-looking man in the river in the Mussayab area 60 kilometres south of Baghdad.

The body, wearing US Army-issue pants and boots, had bullet wounds and signs of torture.

Private Anzack went missing with two comrades after their patrol was ambushed on May 12 in Mahmudiya in the Triangle of Death, an insurgent stronghold south of Baghdad.

i should also note that the story was not a headliner, however it was the first story in the ‘world’ section. 

The story was harder to locate in the Daily Telegraph, Adelaide Advertiser, the Brisbane Times and the Age. The story wasnt written in the world section but in the “for more headlines click here” section. I thought it was interesting that the Aus papers, bar the SMH didnt place this story under great importance, perhaps because it is not longer surprising that people are getting killed in Iraq and also becasue (proximity wise) they story wasnt close to home - all of the stories were written exactly the same too.

I then went to look at the American papers and the headliner in the New York times was “Body found in Iraq is that of missing G.I” – just as a suspected. The first thing i noticed before even reading it was the length of the article, unlike the Australian papers which featured a story 250 words long, the Times has over 2 pages of information made up of 800 words. The Times was much more in depth in their article.

 The article includes emotive language which makes me feel like the story had more impact upon the American journalist than it did on the Aus writer. 

 The discovery brought the first signs of closure to a massive manhunt that has gone on for 11 days, with thousands of American and Iraqi troops searching day and night for the missing soldiers. But for the men and women who lost friends, it was hardly enough.

the discovery brought a mix of sadness and relief to the search parties.  

Word of the body being discovered spread quickly on Wednesday night among the troops.

 The article incudes finer details that are more relevant to the American people Military officials on Wednesday declined to provide details on the location or condition of the body and cut off Internet and telephone access for soldiers at bases to limit rumors. “We will give the truth to the families first,” said Maj. Webster Wright, a spokesman for the Second Brigade Combat Team, which has been leading the search. In the dining hall at a United States base here on Wednesday night, American soldiers gathered around televisions, anxiously watching cable news reports about the discovery of the body.

I was actually suprised that the story wasnt in the leading headlines in The Chicage Tribune. it has a small headline, halfway down the world section, however is was quite a long story – even longer than the Times, though is wasnt as emotional or deep as the Times.

The story was structured very much like a narrative, with greater emphasis placed on the discovery of the body and not not so much the reactions to the discovery.

 villagers found the body late Wednesday morning where it had been snagged on reeds and jetsam under a highway bridge near Musayyib  

some 4,000 U.S. troops and 2,000 Iraqis… For 11 days in temperatures over 110 degrees, they have searched through muddy canals and hostile villages

The body found Wednesday had come to rest against a bridge pylon in Musayyib. It was sighted by a pushcart vendor, who told police the body was wearing military pants.

Local residents initially thought the body probably belonged to an Iraqi soldier. “Many bodies are found in this place,” Muhammad Abd Ali, a police officer manning a nearby checkpoint, said in a telephone interview from Musayyib. “But I never imagined I would find a dead American soldier in this area.” Bystanders watched from the bridge as four police officers made their way down the bank. To help out, they hailed men in boats who had experience retrieving bodies from the river.

Not suprisingly the story was 4th down on the website under headlines in the Los Angeles Times, i assumed it would be a leading story becasue of the proximity newsvalues, i also expected it to be long for the same reason. The article was only 700 words but was structured differently, in a report format, using bold heading such as “found near market place” “rumours about death”

The article goes a step further into the families grief which i think would actually impact more upon families who have loved ones serving in Iraq – the following sentences brings the reality of what the soldiers are doing and the danger they are in so much closer to mind,  

But in
Torrance on Wednesday evening, where friends and relatives gathered at the modest, second-story apartment of the local soldier’s father, Joseph Anzack Sr., the anxious waiting for news was over.

A witness said a military officer wearing a beret entered the home about 5 p.m. and stayed for about an hour. Another man, believed to be a chaplain, arrived a short time later and also stayed in the apartment about an hour. A small group of
Torrance police officers also came to the apartment complex, protecting the family’s privacy.

The soldier’s aunt, Debbie Anzack, said she was in the apartment when the military officer told the family that the dead serviceman “was Joe.” Fighting back tears, she said, “It’s unbelievable. Just unbelievable.”

Debbie Anzack said her brother, the soldier’s father, would provide a statement regarding his son’s death this morning. “Right now, he is devastated,” she said of her brother. “He doesn’t want to cry on television.”

i think this kind of emotional writing can only come from someone who feels closer to the incident. I dont think journalists in other countires would be so descriptive or engaging if they wrote those sentences. I couldnt actually locate an article on the story in the Independent UK – I did type Anzack into the search engine but got no results. i did the same thing for the UK Gaurdian and retireved one article. the article was interesting actually becasue it didnt have that much about Anzack, but used Anzack to lead into other troubles in Iraq,

The three were taken after an ambush south of Baghdad on May 12. The kidnappings have attracted a lot of attention in the US media, which long ago showed fatigue had set in with the regular defence department announcements of casualties.

The Pentagon reported that another nine soldiers had been killed in five separate incidents yesterday and on Monday, turning May into one of the bloodiest months for Americans since the 2003 invasion, with 81 killed so far. The total US death toll in Iraq now stands at 3,423

President George Bush, in a speech at a coastguard academy in New London, Connecticut, yesterday blamed the rising death toll primarily on al-Qaida. “As we’ve surged our forces in Iraq, al-Qaida has responded with a surge of its own.” He said Iraq was vital to the US and that failure would put the US at risk from terrorist attacks. He cited a US intelligence report that had previously been classified as evidence that Osama bin Laden had ordered the late al-Qaida leader in Iraq, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, to mount attacks abroad, particularly in the US.

Part of his speech was aimed at Democrats in Congress opposed to the war and who have been pushing for withdrawal. On Tuesday the Democrats abandoned their attempts to link a timetable for withdrawal to a bill providing billions in funding for the war.

 Summarising what i have found, the Australian papers used exactly the same story to inform Aus about the soldiers death, which leads me to believe that they didnt think the story was overally important as none of the papers did their own investigations. The American papers undoubtely covered the story in the most depth, looking at all angles such as the discovery, the impact of the family and the concern about the two soldiers that disappeared with Anzack that are still missing. the UK papers were the most interesting i thought because they focused very little on the actual story and decided to take the political angle of the story, perhaps becasue this is what would interest their audience more?

The news values present in this story

impact/consequence – this story features both. Impact on the family, the govt, other soldiers. consequence – what does this mean for the other soldiers who are still missing? and for the Govt?

timeliness – yes, becasue the soldiers have been missing for a fortnight, it is a big story to cover as one of them has turned up dead.

proximity – very relevant and obvious in this story. the Aus papers covered the story generally, probably because there are alot of Aus soldiers planted in Iraq at the moment too so out interest is definately invested there. most obvious in the American papers as they dedicate more words, angles and informatoin to the story. The UK papers do little to hide the fact that there are more important stories out there to them

prominence – since his disappearance, Anzack has become a prominent figure, however it is sad that his death will not stand out in our society and his importance will fade over time.

currency - Iraq has flooded and dominated the media for the past years. currency is definately a news value.

Human interest - at the moment there isnt alot of human interest in this particular story - although i think this will change over time. as the family is able to talk i think more features articles will come out of this story.

A new threat has emerged which makes one think that fighting the war against terrorism is impossible -

Below is excerpted from the Sydney Morning Herald- May 10

“SIX alleged “Islamic radicals” accused of plotting terror attacks on American military targets represent a frightening species of homegrown jihad that can easily fly below the radar, US federal officials warned.

“Today we are dealing with a new form of terrorism; smaller, more loosely defined types of cells that may or may not be affiliated with al-Qaeda,” said J.P. Weis, chief agent in the Philadelphia FBI office. “

Authorities believe these groups can be as dangerous as any known group

“The ring includes three Albanian brothers who ran a roofing business in New Jersey, a 7-Eleven shop assistant, a taxi driver and a man who once delivered pizzas to Fort Dix. The plot was discovered only through a lucky break, when one member tried to have a video of an assault weapons training session transferred to DVD. A shop assistant in New Jersey, concerned by the jihadist sentiments on the DVD, alerted the FBI in January, 2006.”

 Federal officials said two informants infiltrated the group and monitored it for 16 months as the suspects allegedly scouted targets, discussed how they could “kill as many soldiers as possible”, practised for their attacks at paintball ranges, and sought to acquire weapons ranging from AK-47s to rocket-propelled grenades.

New Jersey US Attorney Christopher Christie said the group was no less dangerous for being a group of local amateurs. He said on one occasion the men “burst into laughter” while watching a video with an informant that showed a Marine’s arm getting blown off.

The plotters were arrested on Monday night after an attempt to buy automatic weapons from the FBI. Five of the group were charged with weapons violations and conspiring to kill US military personnel. They included the three ethnic Albanian brothers in their 20s, Dritan “Tony” Duka, Eljvir “Elvis” Duka, and Shain Duka, as well as Mohammed Shnewer, 23, a Jordanian-born taxi driver, and Serdar Tatar, a Turkish 7-Eleven employee.

It is interesting to note the different ‘format’ used by The Age, their story seemed a lot more narrative style (May 9)

In January 2006 a retailer alerted FBI officers about a customer who had been asked to copy a video onto a DVD. The footage depicted young men at a firing range who were shooting assault weapons while calling for “jihad” and shouting “Allah Akbar,” or “God is Great” in Arabic, prosecutors said in a criminal complaint.By March 2006 the group was infiltrated by the first of two FBI informers, who obtained computer files. One of these – a file named “19″ – appears to be the last will and testament of at least two of the 19 hijackers who carried out the September 11 attacks, the document said.Another contained images of Osama bin Laden urging viewers to join their movement.In a recording obtained by an informant, suspect Mohamad Ibrahim Shnewer said, “If you want to do anything here, there is Fort
Dix and I don’t want to exaggerate, and I assure you that you can hit an American base very easily”.When the informant asked Shnewer why he wanted to attackFort
Dix, he replied, “My intent is to hit a heavy concentration of soldiers”.But Eljvir Duka said the group would need a fatwa, or ruling from an Islamic scholar, before they could attack.The group trained in Pennsylvania’s
Pocono mountains in February, where law enforcement officials conducted video surveillance.Four of the suspects were born in the former Yugoslavia, one in Jordan and one in Turkey, said Michael Drewniak, a spokesman for the US Attorney’s office in
Newark, New Jersey.The Chicago Tribune went even further into the background of the terrorists (may 11)

“The men have lived in and around Philadelphia for years, worshipped at moderate mosques and worked blue-collar jobs installing roofs, driving a cab, delivering pizzas and baking bread. Four are ethnic Albanians from the former Yugoslavia, one is from Jordan and one is from Turkey.”

The men will be charged with conspiring to kill uninformed military personnel – an offense punishable by life in prison.  

(end of Chicago Tribune)

I found it interesting that the article from UK Independant was pretty brief, it covered the story in just over 250 words

this newspaper was also extremely cautious in what they were writing,

“The case apparently began when the authorities received a tip-off last year”

 ”After several false alarms, the Bush administration was at pains to avoid any judgement. There was, “no direct evidence” that the men involved were linked to international terrorism, Tony Snow, the White House spokesman, said.”

“But the evidence, am-assed over 16 monthsby federal investigators, does point to a plot, the authorities insist”

I think this article stands out becasue unlike the SMH and Chicago Tribune, becuase it appears more objective, unlike the SMH, it doesn’t plainly state that the men are “terrorists”  

The New York Times (11 may) placed a totally different angle on the story and focused on the effect in the families of the accused terrorists – their story is more like a feature article

 Ramiz Duka said his three cousins started to change two to three years ago. Three young men who had grown up with more American friends than fellow ethnic Albanian immigrants began to lecture other Muslims about religion.

”They were praying different, they were talking different, they were telling people what to believe,” Mr. Duka recalled of Eljvir, Shain and Dritan Duka, three of the six men charged in southern New Jersey this week with plotting to attack the Fort Dix military reservation. ”They thought they only knew the right way.”

”What was inflicted on their brain, from who, I don’t know,” the cousin said in an interview on Thursday. ”It’s not our faith. It’s not our religion. It’s not our people.”

Mr. Duka and other members of the New York metropolitan region’s Albanian-American community have struggled in recent days to understand how the three Duka brothers, ages 23, 26 and 28, and a fourth Albanian immigrant, Agron Abdullahu, 24, could have turned against the United States, a country that helped liberate their people less than a decade ago and welcomed them as refugees.

 relatives of the suspects shook their heads in disbelief.

Agron Abdullahu’s family said he was not radicalized. Since arriving in the country eight years ago, he worked at a ShopRite supermarket in Williamstown, N.J.

”He works 10 hours a day,” said his cousin Arsim. ”He would come home and work on his car at night. When he has time to do all these things?”

 ”I don’t want the people of Albania to be made enemies of the United States,” Mr. Duka said. ”The people of America are the best friends that we have.”

”I’m so disappointed,” Mr. Shehu said. ”I feel just terrible about this.”

He added: ”The United States saved us from ethnic cleansing. How can some crazy guys do something like that?”

 Another angle on the story was placed by Associated Press Newswires, in their article they included quotes from members of the suspected terrorists who believe the men are innocent

Relatives in the ethnic Albanian-populated town of 15,000 said they had not seen the brothers in more than two decades, but expressed disbelief Wednesday that the three would attack the United States.

“We all have been supporters of America. We were always thankful to America for its support during the wars in Kosovo and Macedonia,” a cousin, Elez Duka, 29, told The Associated Press.

“These are simple, ordinary people and they’ve got nothing to do with terrorism. I expect their release and I expect an apology,” he said, waving his hands. “I see injustice. These are ridiculous charges.”

U.S. authorities have not given details of the alleged plot, or said if a date had been set for an attack. They said only that the accused were training and buying weapons.

Kosovo Prime Minister Agim Ceku wrote a letter to the U.S. mission in Pristina on Wednesday expressing the “extraordinary feeling that Kosovo’s people have for the U.S.” Ceku also denounced what he called “the disgusting idea” that Albanians could be involved in an attack “against a nation that has been very generous so far.”

“I don’t believe that my kids would do anything like that. I know my kids — they were committed to supporting their families, their house,” she added. (The Duka brothers’ grandmother, Naze Duka)

“They live in America and grew up in the American culture. How can you say they are anti-American? These accusations are totally unfounded,” he said. (Elez Duka, the brothers’ cousin)

The main newsvalues followed here

 timeliness – as all articles are written within a 3 day period as the story was unfolding – this also gave the different news organisations time to take different angles on the story,

proximity as all terrorism generally affects every part of the world, the New York Times story had aspects of a human interest story because it went beyond the fact and applied an emotional level to the story.

Impact and consequence are always present in terrorism stories, because like proximity, it can affects countries all over the world.

The UK Independant story follow the jounalistic principal of “its essence us a discipline of verification” better than its counterparts, as the journalist was very cautious to name where all the information came from. I think the principal “it must strive to make the significant interesting and relevant” was best covered by The New York Times and The Associated Press Newswires are these organisations took different angles on the story.

April 3, 2007 – 11:01AMiraqui militants are holding a german woman and her son hostage, claiming they will have to two killed if Berlin soldiers do not withdraw from Afghanistan.

 quotes from SMH -

A militant speaking on the video but out of sight said: “We are giving the German government another 10 days to begin withdrawing its troops from Afghanistan or we shall kill this criminal woman and her son who works in the Foreign Ministry of the government of (Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-) Maliki”.

Germany, which opposed the 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq, has about 3,000 troops in
Afghanistan as part of a NATO force stationed in the country after US-led troops toppled the Taliban in 2001 for harbouring al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden