Haven't had much time to post in the last few weeks due to the need to attend to other responsibilities, but I have been following the boys in A'stan... The loss of another soldier is always sad...Go with God Pte Robert Costall (Thunder Bay).

Kate took on the media again over the reportage and said it well, I think (so I've quoted her comment in its entirety):

From SDA

"Killed In Action"

The CBC focuses on the casualties in their coverage of the death of Pte. Robert Costall, and only hints at the outcome of the firefight;

The Canadians, along with U.S. helicopters and British planes, had been repositioned to a base in the area in response to an incident on Tuesday in which eight Afghan army soldiers were killed. The region is a flashpoint for insurgent activity and the illegal drug trade.

Fraser said Taliban insurgents attacked the base with mortars, grenades and small arms fire early Wednesday.

The firefight lasted for several hours, he said, adding that a "significant number" of Taliban members were killed during the battle. U.S. military reports say as many as 32 insurgents died.

As much as we mourn the loss of any soldier, those killed in combat deserve a media that reports not only on their sacrifice, but on their achievements. This reporting is incomplete, for it fails to directly advise us as to whether the base was successfully defended.

Instead, we are reminded (at the end of the item) of previous Canadian casualties - including those killed in accidents - as though this information is directly relevant.
The liberal-left media has little interest in understanding military culture. Yet, as they do on so many other issues in which they are woefully underinformed, lack of knowledge is no barrier to interjecting their world view into the reporting - in this case, forgoing the outcome of the battle to revisit an incident of a taxi hitting a light armoured vehicle in Kandahar. True to the liberal-left "war wouldn't happen if we were in charge of the world" ideology, modern war reporting begins and ends with counting the losses.

Pte. Robert Costall was not in Afghanistan to sacrifice his life - he was there to serve his country by accomplishing the missions set before him. To report on only his loss while remaining silent on the achievement (or the failure - after all, we are not told) of his unit in defending their base, is not only journalistic malpractice, it is a disservice to every member of the Canadian Forces.

Upon further reflection - perhaps the time has come to send sports reporters to war zones. It seems to be one of the last refuges of journalism in which a) reporters have basic knowledge of the subject matter they're assigned to, and b) they're expected to report the details and outcome of the race, even if a contestant is injured or dies during competition.

It's astonishing that the same country that still celebrates the envelope pushing performances (and near-death experiences) of the "Crazy Canucks" downhill ski team, hasn't figured out that covering a war in the context of body counts is the sports journalism equivalent of limiting Olympic coverage to the daily injury reports of the various countries in competition."