Michael Kamber | Military Censorship

Michael Kamber, contract photographer with The New York Times

Michael Kamber has been "working around the edges" of the Iraq War since 2003 as a photojournalist for The New York Times. Many of the events that took place during the war were not accessible to him. Some incidents that he was able to witness and photograph were never published. "The reality of the war versus the war that people saw in the newspapers and magazines, it's a very different reality," said Kamber.

Making pictures and getting them published have their own set of rules dictated by government, military, publishers and editors. The images made by the photojournalists who covered the war can reveal a gruesome reality beyond what the American media has shown us. "I think that we need to publish those photos for history even if we can't get them in the newspaper today," said Kamber.

During embeds with the United States military, Kamber was limited in regards to what he was allowed to photograph. One day during his time embedded, Kamber's unit was attacked by an IED. After a quick recovery from the debris, Kamber began to photograph but the unit captain yelled out to him "no pictures!" Kamber replied "I'm here to do my job and you can take my cameras later." The U. S. military later warned The New York Times not to publish the photos and also threatened to revoke the paper's embed access. Mr. Kamber and his editors dug through the images from that day and tried to conform to the military's requirements. The graphic images were left unpublished.

Now Kamber is working on an oral history project about access and censorship during the conflict. "I don't feel that an accurate visual record of the war has really been set forth," he said. Kamber has interviewed many photojournalists who reported from the Iraq war and they all have stories that shed light on the intricate details that went into defining what the general public was able to see from the conflict. Kamber plans to publish the transcribed interviews with the images that have been kept from our eyes.

-Sandra C. Roa

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• American media
• Military censorship
• iraq war
• photojournalism
• Michael Kamber
• Kamber
• photography
• media
• war
• embedded
• wounded soldiers
• military

[JHandcock1111]

@slimhold - At this point in America it seems like everyone is supporting the government, and no one is supporting the country or themselves. Until people stand up (not the gov controlled and sponsored "occupy protest" etc b.s. everyone is falling for) for the basic human rights that have been "removed" by things like the patriot act, and complete revision of the political system, every America deserves exactly what they are complacently getting.

[mywolf2can]

American censorship blog talk radio. Com search mywolf6-15and 16-2011.banned audio.u.s. congress man steve cohen nazi doesn't want u to see Tennessee wake up to this troll!gems camp waiting for you

[jimvanpat]

I just finished the Sebastian Junger book, War, and he tells a different story - no censorship at all. He seemed amazed that the military allowed him the access they did and did not even review his notes or his photographer's film. I'm looking for the documentary he made with his photographer.

[slimhold]

Someone smarter than me said something like, support your country always, your government when it deserves it. We should not support the government when it forces censorship upon any media.

I would say...“You’re dancin’ with whom they tell you to or you don’t dance at all”...but, "the world is run by those that never listen to music anyway."

[WilliamCharles]

Current control and censorship of the media is the results of earlier lessons learned by the military and politicians during the Vietnam war.

It's a sad situation when the American people are only feed the images and stories that support war policies, however right or wrong. People like Michael Kamber need to be honored for thier efforts in helping tell the true stories of war and it's horrors.