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Article: The civilian casualty conundrum: have American news organizations soft-pedaled the "collateral damage" of the fighting in Afghanistan? Or have foreign news outlets and academic studies grossly inflated the toll?(Brief Article)
- Article from:
- American Journalism Review
- Article date:
- April 1, 2002
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2002 University of Maryland. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Throughout the evening of January 25, a dozen American reporters and photographers at the seedy Noor Jahan Hotel in Kandahar, Afghanistan, debated whether they should travel into Uruzgan province, a Taliban stronghold. The Pentagon had just reported that the United States had completed a successful mission there, killing 15 al Qaeda leaders and capturing more. But the reporters based in Kandahar began hearing from sources that the strike was a blunder. American journalists had reported sporadically on mistakes that killed innocent civilians. This might be the most flagrant example.
Into the night, the reporters worked their satellite phones, calling editors and ...