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Media Views 48th BCT During Journey to Iraq Five Atlanta news media representatives participated in the first Media Orientation Visit to the 48th BCT when the GA DOD Directorate of Communications hosted a seven-day media visit to Baghdad and the 48th in October. Participating in the media visit was syndicated columnist Dick Yarbrough whose weekly newspaper column appears in more than forty newspapers across Georgia. Also involved was Dale Russell, Investigative Reporter for WAGA-TV, FOX 5 in Atlanta and awarding winning cinematographer Mike Daly, and Atlanta radio talk show host Ray Mariner of STAR 94 and producer Mike Aurand. While embedded with the 48th, the media was provided full access by Brig Gen. Stewart Rodeheaver to experience the same events as the soldiers and to ride along on numerous missions into potentially dangerous areas patrolled by the 48th. While in Iraq, the reporters were involved in a short fire fight between the 1/121 and insurgents near Mahmudiyah, and were on a patrol with Statesboro’s 648th Engineers when an IED detonated near the convoy. Each night Atlanta radio DJ Ray Mariner, host of the highly rated Ray and Cindy Show on STAR 94 produced a live broadcast from Camp Striker interviewing soldiers and telling the story of the 48th deployment. Dozens of soldiers were given opportunities to speak on-air with their wives and children. FOX-5’s Russell and Mike Daly returned to Atlanta from Iraq with more than 200 hours of videotape. The station is set to air a four part series beginning on Tuesday, November 8 during the six and eleven o’clock news broadcasts. Check the Fox 5 website at http://www.fox5atlanta.com for updated information on these telecasts. “My goal for going to Iraq was to attempt to tell the “good” stories of our guys and gals in the 48th who are sacrificing so much and which the regular media rarely covers.” said Dick Yarbrough. Yarbrough filed more than fourteen stories during his visit with many being published in both daily and weekly newspapers in the cities and towns of 48th Guardsmen. |
