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This morning's "Today" show characterized the execution of Saddam Hussein in generally negative terms. According to NBC reporter Richard Engel, reporting from Baghdad: "The Iraqi government is now going to great lengths to say that this execution was carried out with the utmost respect for human rights; that it was a very organized, precise event. However, interviews that we've conducted with witnesses, judges and other people who attended and followed all the proceedings say it was much more emotional and chaotic." Continued Engel: "The execution was primitive and vindictive. " Engel stated that the site of the execution was one...

As reported here, in a story airing on 'Today' of October 28th, NBC reporter Richard Engel delved into the most private concerns of US soldiers serving in Iraq. Engel queried one solider about his fears of dying in combat, or as he put it: "You ever worry one day your number's gonna come up?"Engel also drew soldiers out on their concerns as to the faithfulness of their loved ones back home, inviting them to discuss "the Jody," described by one soldier as "the guy who is back home with your wife or your girlfriend." Added Engel: "They worry and tell...

by Mark Finkelstein March 22, 2006 Laura Ingraham clearly hit an MSM sore spot with the charges she levelled during her appearance on yesterday's Today show, in which she locked horns with David Gregory and James Carville. Read Laura in the Lions Den. Ingraham accused most American media of covering Iraq from their balconies in the Green Zone, confining their reports largely to IEDs and killings and missing the more positive stories that abound across the country. This morning, a clearly stung NBC asked itself whether it is doing a good job reporting on Iraq, and - surprise! - the...

While it only lasted about three weeks, the second Gulf War was an unqualified success. Jubilant Iraqis danced in the streets as U.S. military forces rolled into the center of Baghdad, while the dictator Saddam Hussein and his evil cohorts were, as General Tommy Franks put it on April 11, either dead or “running like hell.”      So what about TV coverage of the war? While the media covered many aspects of the war fairly well — reports from embedded journalists were refreshingly factual and were mostly devoid of commentary — television’s war coverage was plagued by the same problems...

NEW YORK - NBC News has swooped in and signed Richard Engel, a former freelancer who became one of ABC's most visible war correspondents when he stayed in Baghdad while other reporters left. Engel, 29, will begin reporting for NBC from Baghdad in early May, the network said Wednesday. In the days before the war, ABC, NBC and CBS all pulled reporters from Baghdad, concerned about their safety, and didn't send them back until American troops reached the Iraqi capital. Engel, a freelancer, decided to stay. Despite inexperience that occasionally manifested itself as boyish enthusiasm, Engel was used frequently on...

As printed in TV Guide:CHEERS to fine journalism on (or near) the front lines. Of special note: news vet Peter Arnett on MSNBC, ABC's bright young up-and-comer Richard Engel and CNN medical correspondent Sanjay Gupta, who maintained his composure as he watched a frontline surgical unit operate on a critically injured Iraqi POW. As posted on line today:CHEERS to fine journalism on (or near) the front lines. Of special note: ABC's bright young up-and-comer Richard Engel and CNN medical correspondent Sanjay Gupta, who maintained his composure as he watched a frontline surgical unit operate on a critically injured Iraqi POW.