"Reporting the War" -- My first documentary

While I've tried to reserve Have I Got News For You for local topics worth discussing, tonight I use this venue for selfless promotion.

My first documentary "Reporting the War -- The Journalists' Perspective" airs Sunday night at 10 p.m. on PBS 45/49. The station sent out a press release earlier this week but I wanted to take a minute to better explain what the 30-minute special covers.

In my role as host of NewsNight Akron, I felt a calling to discuss how well local journalists -- print, radio, and television -- are covering today's wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and more specifically, the warriors of Ohio on those battlefields thousands of miles away.

Is the media giving us the whole story? If not, why not? What are the obstacles to getting better stories and what are the stories that still need to be told?

Rather than use the normal Friday night forum to discuss the topic and barely scratch the surface, I teamed up with Executive Producer Dulio Mariola to take the discussion out into the Akron community.

I looked for journalists who had a personal connection to the war either because it was their defined beat or because they had served in uniform themselves.

I was pleased that every person I contacted was willing to take part. Among those I interviewed:

• Tim White, WKYC-TV, who retired from the Air Force after serving in both Afghanistan and Iraq.
• Leon Bibb, WEWS-TV, who served in combat in Vietnam.
• Jim Carney, Akron Beacon Journal, who has been assigned to covering local military stories since 9/11.
• Larry Baker, WKYC-TV photographer, who served in combat in Vietnam.
• Larry States, WAKR-AM, long-time radio broadcaster whose covered local troops in multiple conflicts.
• Virgil Dominic, former news anchor and news director who also served several years in the military.

Obviously, the topic is close to my heart since I'm an Iraq war veteran as well as a local journalist. I can tell you that the entire experience has been cathartic and hopefully will spark a new connection between our local media and the military families and troops who sacrifice so much.

I'll let you in on one secret. Both Leon Bibb and Larry Baker reflected on teaming up to cover the opening of the Vietnam Wall in Washington, D.C. 25 years ago. Obviously, since both survived that same war, the experience of telling that story was quite personal. I had Larry find that exact story from the WKYC archives, and we included parts of it in this special. It's just as strong today as it was a quarter of a century ago.

Again .. the show airs at 10 p.m. on Sunday (Veterans Day) on PBS 45/49, which is cable position 10 for you local Time Warner subscribers. It will replay at 5 a.m. on Monday and will eventually show up on the web as Video-on-Demand.

I'll await your feedback ... thanks for your time .. Eric