The Marlboro Marine

I'm writing today about something that should have been written about before, but I got a little busy. In Rolling Stone's April 3, 2008, issue (Issue 1049), they wrote a story on the Marlboro Marine. I'm guessing that you saw the photo above sometime, and that's the one that spurred the story. The story came about when Los Angeles Times photojournalist Luis Sinco took the shot in November 2004 in Fallujah, Iraq. The photo instantly spread across the world as the face of the War in Iraq.

Sinco put together a piece for the story for the news website MediaStorm, and I encourage everyone to take a look. I'll add the site to the links list for easy access. Sinco made a video with lots of photos he took of Blake Miller, the marine, and it's an extremely touching piece. It tells the story of the photo, Sinco's time with the troops and the unbelievable bond Sinco formed with Miller while back in the U.S. They are now good friends, and Sinco even drove from California to Miller's home in Kentucky to take him to a doctor in Connecticut so Miller could get treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder. I encourage you to check out both stories, but they are slightly different. The MediaStorm version is harder-hitting because of all the visuals and the audio with it. The Rolling Stone version tells more about Miller himself, while the MediaStorm version tells about Miller, Sinco, their time in Iraq and in the U.S., their relationship and gives more commentary about the war in general. It sounds one-sided, but you can do a lot more with 16 minutes of video than you can in four pages of print.

In addition to the Marlboro Marine story, it's a great idea to check out MediaStorm anyway. They have a collection of 22 stories that cover a wide range of topics. Another good video is "New York Reacts," which is a feature of New Yorkers and their responses to 9/11. Robert Browman, one of the heads of MediaStorm, gave a lecture to my class at Syracuse University about their style of journalism, and gave insights into their method of bringing news. Sponsored by the Washington Post, they bring interesting, informative and important issues to the news world. And, maybe most importantly, they do a great job with it. All of the stories are interesting and give a first-hand account. So check out MediaStorm and feel free to discuss any stories you like.