Ernie Pyle set the standard for war correspondents

4-17-03

Today marks the 58th anniversary of the day famed Hoosier journalist Ernie Pyle died, killed by a Japanese sniper during World War II. Not World War I, the “war to end all wars”, mind you; but the one after it.

Pyle was born and raised not far from here in Dana, Ind., and attended Indiana University.

You can read one of his columns on the Web at http://www.journalism.indiana.edu.

If you are not familiar with the reporter who made his mark by describing the inside story of war, from the soldier’s point of view, you can catch the movie, “Story of G.I. Joe” on TV or by purchasing the the tape. Go to http://www.imdb.com and search for “Ernie Pyle” for more information.

Burgess Meredith played Pyle in the 1945 movie.

Another reason to think about Pyle today is the recent deaths of reporters in the war against Iraq.

According to Reuters, six journalists have died in Iraq and two others were missing as of April 6. The news agency lists NBC’s David Bloom, Michael Kelly of “The Atlantic Monthly”, BBC camerman Kaveh Golestan, Australian cameraman Paul Moran and Britain’s Independent Television News reporter Terry Lloyd. two of Lloyd’s crew were still missing April 6.

Why would anyone put their life on the line to report on combat?

I’ve often asked myself that question, because I know I would love to be over there, sending reports back to the U.S.A.

I think it is a sense of mission — the desire to tell others what is going on that affects them in this world.

Walter Cronkite was bitten by the reporting bug at a very early age. He grabbed his family’s newspaper, ran to his friend’s house and said, “That is the very last picture you will ever see” of the former president whose death was reported on page one that day.

Even as a child, he demonstrated a sense of what is news, but he didn’t realize that dead people’s photos are reproduced many times after their passing.

What is news?

To answer that question takes a gift that cannot be taught in the nation’s finest journalism schools. It is an instinct.

Occasionally, people think it strange that newspapers and TV stations decide to do stories on the same subject as their competitors. It’s not so strange.

They don’t telephone one another to find out what will be on the front page or that evening’s newscast.

They arrive at much the same conclusion as to what is news on a given day because they share many of the same instincts.

That is also why editors (and, I presume, TV news producers) keep encouraging reporters to do “enterprise” stories — the stories that could run most any day, and are not chained to the events of the past 24 hours. Stories that will be unique to their franchise.

That was the kind of story for which Ernie Pyle is best remembered.

It is the kind of story that has made “60 Minutes” a Sunday night staple for decades.

It’s the kind of story we are happy to hear about from you, our readers.