Battlefronts: Big Splash over a Small Pool

Ever since reporters were barred from the Grenada invasion a year ago, the press and the Pentagon have been struggling to devise methods for future combat coverage. The Defense Department decided to designate a “war pool” of reporters to cover the initial stages of a military action and share notes and pictures with colleagues. Last week, however, another skirmish broke out when the composition of the eleven-member pool was announced: four network correspondents, a two-man camera crew, two wire-service reporters, a newsmagazine correspondent, a radio broadcaster and a photographer. Notably missing: a daily newspaper reporter.

“This reveals the Administration to be out of touch with journalism, reality and the First Amendment,” said New York Times Chairman Arthur Ochs Sulzberger. The Pentagon stressed that wire services were supposed to provide coverage for the papers. But the brass soon beat a tactical retreat, adding a newspaper reporter to the list. The sticky question of which paper would be designated was left to the American Newspaper Publishers Association, which vaguely promised to “consult” with its members.