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Reporting the War: The Journalists’ Perspective
Virgil Dominic, a media consultant and longtime Cleveland television executive, talks with Eric Mansfield about reporting the Vietnam War.

Reporting the War: The Journalists’ Perspective

Northeast Ohio media professionals reveal war-reporting challenges in special Veterans Day edition of NewsNight Akron

When reporting about war, local news outlets face different challenges than their national and international counterparts. The focus shifts from the war itself to the local warrior as reporters strive to present coverage from the individual soldier’s angle. PBS Western Reserve presented a special Veterans Day edition of NEWSNIGHT AKRON with REPORTING THE WAR: THE JOURNALISTS’ PERSPECTIVE.

Eric Mansfield, host of PBS Western Reserve’s NEWSNIGHT AKRON and Akron/Canton news anchor for WKYC-TV3, hosts the program. Mansfield, a retired major in the Ohio National Guard, saw active duty in Iraq and Kuwait for 14 months beginning in 2003.

REPORTING THE WAR features interviews with local media personnel, including Leon Bibb and Virgil Dominic, who discuss the challenges of choosing what to report and how to go about getting the stories. “There’s nothing that’s affecting our country more right now than the war in Iraq,” says Dominic. “I think that we need to keep that in the public’s eye in every way that we can.”

Several of the interviewees also are war veterans, which gives them a unique perspective as they make news decisions. Appearing in the production are the following individuals representing local television, radio and print:

  • Larry Baker, WKYC-TV cameraman and Vietnam War veteran
  • Leon Bibb, WEWS-TV anchor and Vietnam War veteran
  • Jim Carney, Akron Beacon Journal staff writer
  • Virgil Dominic, media consultant and retired president and general manager of WJW-TV
  • Larry States, WAKR/WONE/WQMX radio
  • Tim White, WKYC-TV anchor and Vietnam War veteran

 

A PBS Western Reserve production, 2007.