2008 Woodie Awards
Native-born journalist discusses her time in Iraq
Issue date: 4/17/08
"They were targeted because of what they were reporting," she said, adding, "We are targeted because we represent the ideas the opposition wants to defeat."
Already a target for insurgents in Iraq, Dozier became a magnet to U.S. public opinion after her injury attracted a great amount of media coverage.
"I got slammed by the left and right," Dozier said, recalling the biased media attention that criticized her reporting from Iraq and labeled her everything from "left-wing" to a "Doctor Strangelove-like reporter."
"I reported it all, as I saw it, the good and the bad," Dozier said. She added, "I had been taught … that you don't express your personal views on air." That, however, did not stop bloggers, talk show hosts and the rest of the media from criticizing her, or prevent her boss from scouring her scripts for traces of opinion.
Dozier, along with the rest of the media, continues to face an even greater trade-off capturing the attention of a public whose interest in the Iraq war is lagging.
"Simply put, Iraq became something that made people want to change the channel," Dozier said. She later raised the question, "Do you give people what you think they want, or do you give them what they want to hear?"
To encourage the viewing audience to watch through the important news segments, "means occasionally using Britney, if I need to," she joked, referring to troubled pop star Britney Spears.
Dozier shared numerous other challenges to reporting stories from Iraq with the audience.
"There's no such thing as 'off the record' on the phone in Iraq," Dozier said, explaining that all calls she made were recorded. She also had to be available for the Early Show every morning, which ran at 7 a.m. in the United States, but inconveniently at 3 p.m. in Baghdad.
"We all learned that our translators would lie to please us," Dozier said. She was able to catch some of these lies by picking up on visual cues and snatches of Arabic phrases.
Already a target for insurgents in Iraq, Dozier became a magnet to U.S. public opinion after her injury attracted a great amount of media coverage.
"I got slammed by the left and right," Dozier said, recalling the biased media attention that criticized her reporting from Iraq and labeled her everything from "left-wing" to a "Doctor Strangelove-like reporter."
"I reported it all, as I saw it, the good and the bad," Dozier said. She added, "I had been taught … that you don't express your personal views on air." That, however, did not stop bloggers, talk show hosts and the rest of the media from criticizing her, or prevent her boss from scouring her scripts for traces of opinion.
Dozier, along with the rest of the media, continues to face an even greater trade-off capturing the attention of a public whose interest in the Iraq war is lagging.
"Simply put, Iraq became something that made people want to change the channel," Dozier said. She later raised the question, "Do you give people what you think they want, or do you give them what they want to hear?"
To encourage the viewing audience to watch through the important news segments, "means occasionally using Britney, if I need to," she joked, referring to troubled pop star Britney Spears.
Dozier shared numerous other challenges to reporting stories from Iraq with the audience.
"There's no such thing as 'off the record' on the phone in Iraq," Dozier said, explaining that all calls she made were recorded. She also had to be available for the Early Show every morning, which ran at 7 a.m. in the United States, but inconveniently at 3 p.m. in Baghdad.
"We all learned that our translators would lie to please us," Dozier said. She was able to catch some of these lies by picking up on visual cues and snatches of Arabic phrases.
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