Journalist Geraldo Rivera commented (regarding the war in Iraq) that 'reporters don't report buildings that don't burn.
The piece quoted above is a reproduction of an editorial by Mark Davis (a talk show host with radio station WBAP/Dallas-Ft. Worth, Texas) published in theFort Worth Star-Telegram on 31 August 2003. Davis incorporated quotes from journalist Geraldo Rivera's recent appearance on the Fox News Channel's Hannity and Colmes program into his editorial to echo the sentiment that - particularly regarding the war in Iraq and its aftermath - the public tends to hear only negative stories presented by the major news media but comparatively little mention of positive deeds and accomplishments. That is, we hear about the occasional fire that destroys a building, but the fact that millions of structures remain standing and untouched by flames day after day isn't considered newsworthy.Geraldo Rivera saw Iraq first-hand as he accompanied the U.S. 101st Airborne in Iraq in March 2003, filing (generally positive) reports for Fox News, until he drew the ire of the military for potentially violating operational security with one of his reports:At 12:14 a.m. Eastern Standard Time [on March 31], Rivera narrated a report about the 101st Airborne that lasted more than three minutes. Crouching in the sand, he sketched an elaborate map with his finger, marking the location of the division he was traveling with. He also depicted the position of an alternate supply route constructed by U.S. forces about 10 miles west of the main highway between Kuwait and Baghdad.Rivera was then expelled from Iraq (or voluntarily exited the country in order to avoid being expelled), but he soon returned (some sources maintain he never actually left, others that he was simply escorted across the border into Kuwait temporarily) after 'admitting his mistake and receiving additional training from the Pentagon.'
nan