Embedded journalism Embedded journalism refers to new reporters being attached to military units involved in armed conflicts . While the term could be applied to many historical interactions between journalists and military personnel , it first came to be used in the media coverage of the 2003 invasion of Iraq . The United States military responded to pressure from the country ' s news media who were disappointed by the level of access granted during the 1991 Gulf War and the 2001 U . S . invasion of Afghanistan . At the start of the war in March 2003 , as many as 775 reporters and photographers were traveling as embedded journalists . These reporters signed contracts with the military promising not to report information that could compromise unit position , future missions , classified weapons , and information they might find . Joint training for war correspondents started in November 2002 in advance of start of the war . When asked why the military decided to embed journalists with the troops , Lt . Col . Rick Long of the U . S . Marine Corps replied , " Frankly , our job is to win the war . Part of that is information warfare . So we are going to attempt to dominate the information environment . " Gina Cavallaro , a reporter for the " Army Times , " said , " They ’ re [ the journalists ] relying more on the military to get them where they want to go , and as a result , the military is getting smarter about getting its own story told . " But , she added , " I don ' t necessarily consider that a bad thing . " Military Control Exerted . The first journalist to run afoul of U . S . military rules in Iraq was freelancer Philip Smucker , travelling on assignment for the " Christian Science Monitor " with the 1st Marine Division . Smucker was not officially embedded , but all reporters in the theater of war were deemed subject to Pentagon oversight . On March 26 , 2003 , during an interview with CNN , Smucker disclosed the location of a Marine unit , as he ' d also done during an interview with NPR . He was thereafter expelled . Just four days later , Fox News Channel correspondent Geraldo Rivera similarly broadcast details from Iraq of the position and plans of U . S . troops . " Let me draw a few lines here for you , " he said , making on - camera marks in the sand . " First , I want to make some emphasis here that these hash marks here , this is us . We own that territory . It ' s 40 % , maybe even a little more than that . " At another point , complained a CENTCOM spokesman , Rivera " actually revealed the time of an attack prior to its occurrence . " Although Rivera — like Philip Smucker — was not officially embedded , he was swiftly escorted back to Kuwait . A week later , Rivera apologized . " I ' m sorry that it happened , " he said on Fox News Channel , " and I assure you that it was inadvertent . Nobody was hurt by what I said . No mission was compromised . " However , a network review , he admitted , " showed that I did indeed break one of the rules related to embedment . " In December 2005 the U . S . Coalition Forces Land Component Command in Kuwait pulled the credentials of two embedded journalists on a two - week assignment for the Virginian - Pilot newspaper in Norfolk , Virginia , claiming they violated the prohibition against photographing damaged vehicles . Criticism . The ethics of embedded journalism are considered controversial . The practice has been criticized as being part of a propaganda campaign and an effort to keep reporters away from civilian populations and sympathetic to invading forces ; for example by the documentary films " " and The War You Don ' t See . Embed critics objected that the level of military oversight was too strict and that embedded journalists would make reports that were too sympathetic to the American side of the war , leading to use of the alternate term " inbedded journalist " or " inbeds " . " Those correspondents who drive around in tanks and armored personnel carriers , " said journalist Gay Talese in an interview , " who are spoon - fed what the military gives them and they become mascots for the military , these journalists . I wouldn ' t have journalists embedded if I had any power ! . . . There are stories you can do that aren ' t done . I ' ve said that many times . " Dangers . During both the Iraq War and War in Afghanistan , improvised explosive device s ( IEDs ) were used extensively against U . S . - led Coalition forces , and accounted for the majority of Coalition casualties . Journalists travelling with ground forces were at the same risk . On January 29 , 2006 , while embedded with the U . S . Army ' s 4th Infantry Division , ABC ' s " World News Tonight " co - anchor Bob Woodruff and cameraman Doug Vogt were , together with an Iraqi soldier , seriously injured when their convoy was ambushed near Taji , Iraq and an IED detonated beneath them . At the time of the attack , Woodruff and Vogt were exposed , standing in the back hatch of their Iraqi mechanized vehicle taping a video log of the patrol .