I tend to agree. Most of the embedded reporters I've watched are getting a good education on military operations. They've experienced firsthand the hardships and challenges the military personnel are going through, and I detect a measure of respect for the military that was absent from most reporting in the past many years. Perhaps some are getting sloppy due to fatique, but most I've heard have a pretty good grasp of Operational Security (OPSEC). After all, they know they're also in the line of fire if they say something stupid that gives away their position or invites attack.

One of the problems I've seen with the coverage is that the networks will instantly go to the firefight de jour and cover it as if it was Omaha Beach. Both the embedded reporters and the anchors back home lack the framework to put things into proper perspective.

The reporters in Kuwait who attend the CENTCOM briefings sound like a pretty frustrated lot. They aren't getting firsthand info and experience like the embedded reporters. They aren't getting the "big picture" from CENTCOM, either. I really wonder what they expected from the CENTCOM briefings. Judging from some of the silly questions they've been asking, it almost sounds like they're expecting General Franks to come out each day and lay out the detailed desposition of all our forces and the operational plans for the next 24 hours. Sorry, but that isn't going to happen. They're coming across as ignorant as those Gulf War reporters lampooned by Saturday Night Live back in 1991:

Q: "When does the ground war start, General?"

A: "I'm not going to tell you."