# 10 Marines Dead- was news delay justified? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [December 2, 2005, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/10-marines-dead-was-news-delay-justified/333779 "2005-12-02T18:32:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Pjen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Pjen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pjen)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2005, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/10-marines-dead-was-news-delay-justified/333779/1 "2005-12-02T18:32:13Z")
BBC News has just reported on its view of the release of news of the sad deaths of ten marines in Iraq. It pointed out that usually such deaths are reported promptly and in Iraq to the Press Corps, but in this case the news was delayed by at least 24 hours and announced in Washington. They suggest that this delay was to distance the news from Bush’s recent seech promising total victory. Was this the case? If so, was it justified? ---
**Author:** ![XT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xt/32/456_2.png) [@XT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XT)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2005, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/10-marines-dead-was-news-delay-justified/333779/2 "2005-12-02T18:46:59Z")
Could you link the article you are looking at? -XT ---
**Author:** ![BarnOwl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e95f7d/32.png) [@BarnOwl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BarnOwl)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2005, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/10-marines-dead-was-news-delay-justified/333779/3 "2005-12-02T19:18:24Z")
> [@xtisme](#): > > Could you link the article you are looking at? > > -XT According to the BBC article at… [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle\_east/4493118.stm](http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/4493118.stm) (Excerpt) “The deaths also came just one day after President Bush’s major speech outlining his strategy for victory in Iraq.” ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2005, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/10-marines-dead-was-news-delay-justified/333779/4 "2005-12-02T19:37:00Z")
> [@Pjen](#): > > It pointed out that **usually such deaths are reported promptly** and in Iraq to the Press Corps, but in this case the news was delayed by at least 24 hours and announced in Washington. A day isn’t that much of a delay. Sometimes, with helicopter crashes and such, it takes longer to get the story right, and then get it out. Weekend casualty reports also tend to get released on monday. I’d be concerned if the story had been knocked back a week, but with big events like this, it’s more important to get the story _right_ than to get it out right away. ---
**Author:** ![Pjen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Pjen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pjen)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2005, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/10-marines-dead-was-news-delay-justified/333779/5 "2005-12-02T19:38:06Z")
> [@xtisme](#): > > Could you link the article you are looking at? > > -XT Sorry, BBC Broadcast TV News- The Six o’clock News on BBC1. The verbals were much firmer and more questioning of the US Govt intentions than either the quote above or [bbc.co.uk/news](http://bbc.co.uk/news). ---
**Author:** ![Pjen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Pjen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pjen)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2005, 6:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/10-marines-dead-was-news-delay-justified/333779/6 "2005-12-03T06:36:11Z")
BBC News at: [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle\_east/4493118.stm](http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/4493118.stm) now more closely approaches the bulletin last night, though is still not as strong: "The BBC’s correspondent in Baghdad, Jim Muir, says these are politically sensitive times when it comes to troop losses… The deaths also came just one day after President Bush’s major speech outlining his strategy for victory in Iraq." The news broadcast was much more specific about poiting out the delay and the proximity to Bush’s speech. ---
**Author:** ![metj](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/6a8cbe/32.png) [@metj](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/metj)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2005, 6:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/10-marines-dead-was-news-delay-justified/333779/7 "2005-12-03T06:55:16Z")
It’s possible that they didn’t want to release the story until the families of the deceased were notified. My BIL is in Iraq and he is not allowed to call or email home when there is a death until after the families are contacted. ---
**Author:** ![Malodorous](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e47774/32.png) [@Malodorous](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malodorous)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2005, 7:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/10-marines-dead-was-news-delay-justified/333779/8 "2005-12-03T07:20:50Z")
> [@metj](#): > > It’s possible that they didn’t want to release the story until the families of the deceased were notified. They usually announce the type of attack and number of casulties, then wait to release the names/units/ranks etc. till family has been notified.