By Don North
An extraordinary gathering of old spooks and soldiers took place last night in the ballroom of the swank Mandarin Oriental Hotel here in Washington D.C. [Read more...]
Bill Gates v. Photojournalists
October 1, 2011 By
Photojournalism, the risky business of capturing images of war and other historic events, is under financial pressure like other aspects of journalism. Some photographers were encouraged when billionaire Bill Gates put himself in the picture in the 1990s, but that has not developed as some had hoped, reports Don North. [Read more...]
Don North: Sixty-nine years after Dieppe truth is still a casualty
September 3, 2011 By
“If any question why we died, tell them because our fathers lied.”
Rudyard Kipling. Epitaphs of the war.
By Don North
MRE Vice President
The template for unashamed deceit of the news media in wartime is the disastrous raid on Dieppe Aug. 19, 1942. The controversy over the lessons learned at Dieppe continue to this day, perhaps proof that unless truthful, the “first rough draft of history” lives on without aggressive scholarship or journalism.
At the Canadian War Museum in Ottawa, Ontario there is a citation on the wall of an official display; “Some insist that the lessons learned at Dieppe contributed to the success of later allied landings including Normandy. Others insist that the raid was poorly planned and an avoidable blunder.” It seems the Canadian preference is to “choose your own version of history on Dieppe.” [Read more...]
How to steal a navy and save 30,000 refugees in the process
June 30, 2011 By
By Don North, MRE vice president
Among the dozens of ships that would be fated to play a large role in the rescue of tens of thousands of refugees was a small destroyer escort, USS Kirk. [Read more...]
Obituary: Jack Pulwers, a giant in journalism
April 3, 2011 By
By Don North
Distinguished journalist, author and military historian Jack Edward Pulwers died March 29, 2011 at Fair Oaks Hospital in Fairfax, Va. of extended illness after congestive heart failure. [Read more...]
Commemoration Commission agrees to strike Nixon quote
March 17, 2011 By
MRE Vice President Don North sent a letter on behalf of the organization to the Vietnam War Commemoration Program Office in January 2011. His letter focused on the quote found on the commemoration’s website by President Richard M. Nixon “No event in American history is more misunderstood than the Vietnam war. It was misreported then, and it is misremembered now.” [Read more...]
Remembering ‘Zorro’s’ Vietnam Legacy
February 1, 2011 By
By Don North
MRE board member
Barry Zorthian, who died last month at the age of 90, was one of the last surviving U.S government officials who shaped America’s role in the Vietnam War, a man who also stood at the shadowy intersection between press management and psychological warfare. [Read more...]
Pentagon-sponsored website blames media for ‘misreporting’ Vietnam
January 19, 2011 By
January 18, 2011
Vietnam War Commemoration Program Office
2521 S. Clark St. Suite 650,
Arlington, VA. 22202
Dear Sir or Madam;
At the top of the home page of your website you have prominently displayed a quote by President Richard Nixon.
“No event in American history is more misunderstood than the Vietnam war. It was misreported then, and it is misremembered now.” New York Times, March 28, 1985.
It would appear to be a keynote statement designed to characterize your attitude to the commemoration of the 50th Anniversary of the Vietnam War. [Read more...]
The world’s crisis in war reporting (part 1)
November 24, 2010 By
By Don North
MRE’s Vice President
At this complex and dangerous moment in history, we must recognize that journalists around the world are failing in their duty as watchdogs of the people and that – combined with economic stresses – the traditional role of journalism is diminishing. [Read more...]
The world’s crisis in war reporting (part 2)
November 24, 2010 By
By Don North
MRE Vice President
Hal Buell, former photo editor for the Associated Press in Asia, in an article for Vietnam Magazine wrote: [Read more...]
