The return of
almost 2 million veterans from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan is a big story
for rural journalists because military service members come disproportionately
from rural communities, and the services they need are often more difficult to
get in rural areas. The story can be hard
to cover, for many reasons, but several experts and advocates provided insight
and guidance for reporters at a regional conference of the Society of
Professional Journalists in St. Louis on April 27.
One reason
returning vets can be hard to cover because they are “a hard-to-find community”
and state and local agencies are slow to get data from the federal Department
for Veterans Affairs, and when they get it, it may not be accurate, said Erica
Borggren, director of the Illinois Department of Veterans Affairs and a nurse
who was on the combat staff of Gen. David Petraeus.
That’s not the
biggest problem with the federal agency, said Joe Franzese, coordinator of the “Warrior
to Warrior” program of the Illinois National Guard and Health and Disability
Advocates. “Due to the complexity of this bureaucratic system within the VA, a
lot of veterans aren’t getting the care they need,” said Franzese, a Marine vet.
The typical way for
journalists to do stories about people facing challenges is to ask government
or non-profit agencies that serve them, but that won’t always work with
veterans, or it might take more time than usual, said Amy Terpstra, associate
director of the Heartland Alliance’s Social Impact Research Center.
Some veterans’
service providers see journalists as “vultures” who take advantage of vets and
perpetuate bad stereotypes, so reporters have to build trust, Terpstra said. “That
relationship-building is really important.”
And as journalists covering
the challenges that face many returning vets, they should also cover their
successes, said Steve Wahle, an Afghanistan vet and a fellow with The Mission Continues,
a veterans-service organization. He said coverage of
new vets tends to be about post-traumatic stress disorder and traumatic brain
injuries, the signature wounds of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. (Read more)
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