Though I'm fully expecting to get piled on here --
I'm a TV reporter [see the profile for details]. Just as I wouldn't presume that one CF member's behaviours and attitudes are typical of all CF members, I trust you'll recognize that all journalists behave and act in different ways. Here's my story.
I was assigned to Petawawa yesterday.
I left Ottawa at 11 am. At that time, the base in Kandahar is under lockdown. All my colleague there could tell us before his communications were disconnected was that it was "big". As he is forbidden to provide any other details, we put two and two together at this end and assume 'big' means that some CF members may have been hurt or killed. As we know that the casualties would likely come from Petawawa or Shio, my network dispatched reporters to both bases.
I arrived at Petawawa shortly after 1 pm. My crew and I parked outside the main gate of the base. I immediately telephoned the base's public affairs officer, identified myself and explained my purpose. I requested that, if, in fact, we should learn that any deceased were based in Petawawa, some reflection or commentary from the base commander or chaplain would be a big help. I made no requests to speak to a family member -- nor would I for the rest of the day. My attitude is: If a family member wishes to speak to us, they know where to find us or the base PR certainly knows where we are.
Shortly after I arrived the media lockdown was lifted and DND issued a release to say that four CF members had died. But DND was not yet releasing names or units of the deceased. So, on the assumption that they could all be from Shilo just as easily as they could all be from Petawawa, we stayed put at the front gate. DND, as many in this forum will be aware, does not release names and units until the family of the deceased says they should.
Around 4 pm, DND officially released the names of MELLISH and NOLAN.
At that point, I and a cameraman proceeded to the Military Family Resources Centre. There, I went in alone and spoke to the centre's manager, Frances Priest. I introduced myself to her, told her the purpose of my visit, and asked if she would agree to talk to us to describe the kind of day it had been on the base. I explained to her the context in which her remarks would be presented in my news item. She first consulted with base command and agreed to be interviewed. She asked that I not ask her about certain subjects and I agreed. Not until she had agreed to be interviewed did I invite my cameraman into the facililty. In fact, he and our gear stayed in our unmarked vehicle for the 20 minutes or so it took until Frances could receive the all-clear to do this interview.
As soon as the interview was completed, I received a call from base public affairs that the rear party CO of the RCR would make himself available for media questions and that I would be called when the commander was available. So, as we were finished with, my cameraman and I promptly returned to the front gate to wait for further instructions from base PR. An hour or so later, base PR telephoned us to invite us back on to the base and accompanied us to a briefing room where Major Peter Scott delivered a statement and answered a few questions.
THe link to the results of this day is here: http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20060902/nato_casualties_060903/20060903?hub=CTVNewsAt11 [look on the right-hand side under video and click on 'David Akin reports from CFB Petawawa']
I'm pretty confident that the base public affairs officer (Capt. Spurr), Major Scott, and Ms. Priest would agree that I and my crew conducted ourselves in a professional respectful manner. 'Course, no one lights up a bulletin board when reporters do their jobs that way, do they?
And, it's my observation, that the vast majority of my colleagues in the Parliamentary Press Gallery would conduct themselves in a similar manner.
Ok, -- pile on ...
Cheers --
