Troops in Iraq Don't Trust Reporters

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Dennis Anderson writes in Editor and Publisher that most reporters are viewed negatively by US troops in Iraq.

Not that reporters are particularly trusted anyway, but as a class of people having a high and visible participation in the war in Iraq, dozens of GIs and Marines I've spoken with allow as how they just don't trust reporters.

There was Staff Sgt. Cory Blackwell of Lancaster, recently headed for his second tour in Iraq with the 4th Infantry Division, nicknamed the "Ivy Division" and "The Regulars."

Blackwell, 27, is a professional soldier. He holds the customary glum view of professional news gatherers in the Iraq war.

"We tried to stay away from them," he said. "You had the feeling that whatever you might be doing, they wanted to catch you at something on tape. That would make their career."

Dennis Anderson himself, editor of the Antelope Valley Press in Palmdale, CA, was twice embedded with troops.