Embedded Photographers Won a Pulitzer

Did embedded journalists produce worthwhile journalism during the Iraq War?

I'm claiming the Pulitzer Prize Board as a fellow advocate of the affirmative position.

Dallas Morning News Photographers David J. Leeson and Cheryl Diaz Meyer won the 2004 award for Breaking News Photography while embedded with the U.S. Army's Third Infantry Division and the Marines' Second Tank Battalion as they advanced toward Baghdad.

Their images can be found here.

The National Press Photographers Association ran a short story on the pair after they won the Pulitzer.

Asked if there was any one special photograph from the essay that stands out for her today after winning the Pulitzer, Meyer said, "Probably the one of two Marines helping an old man after he had accidentally been shot in their crossfire. In the middle of the battle he was trying to sneak by. Not really knowing if he was a guerilla or not, the Marines shot him. Then when they realized he was a civilian, they went back to get him. It was the lead photography in the entry. It was a very heroic and generous moment for the Marines, it was a risk they didn't have to take."

That seems to me like a pretty compelling description of something an embedded journalist captured that would've otherwise been impossible to capture.

Michael Luke @ September 21, 2006 - 4:55pm

Correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't the only way these pictures hit American presses if the Pentagon allows the photographs to be published? Didn't policy change before Desert Storm?

Nonetheless, the photos are stunning. However, what would happen if the photographers took a picture of something that the Pentagon found offensive or might damage war morale back in the States? Would they be in our papers?

Crystal Smith @ September 25, 2006 - 8:49pm

The photos are stunning. I gravitated to the one of the little girl with 10 day old burns on her body who was screaming in pain. Again, all of these pictures are very complimentary to our government and troops. The ones that are hard to deal with still have captions of redemption. In times of war, its about survival and I know there are many instances of grotesque actions as a result of people losing their minds (in Vietnam American troops cut off civilians ears and wore them around their necks) so I'm sure there are images that the pentagon would censor. I think these photos are relevant but still very much in line with the government's agenda for what they want(ed) us to think about the War in Iraq.

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