Journalists failing to act as watchdogs in Iraq

The number of embedded journalists reporting with US troops in Iraq has dropped to its lowest level of the war. Despite rising conflict in the streets of Baghdad, fewer than two dozen reporters have been assigned in recent weeks to US military units, and late last month it fell to 11. During the invasion in March 2003, more than 600 reporters, TV crews and photographers linked up with US and British units. "It strikes me as dangerous" for the American public to get so little news of their military, says Sig Christenson, a reporter for the San Antonio Express-News, who is president of the journalists' group, Military Reporters and Editors. Among the possible reasons for the decline is Pentagon bureaucracy, reporting restrictions, and pressure by some commanders to avoid negative coverage. (Via The Guardian/AP)