J-School grad shares embedded war experience

photo by Luke George

Being an embedded reporter means getting to the heart of a story, J-School grad Tom Nybo tells students in Senior Seminar last month. "I get excited about stories," says Nybo. "They're first-hand reports."

By Christine Tutty
J-School Web Reporter

Although reporters have been embedded in past wars, they have never been able to report with live television or bring the war home to people like they can now, said a UM alumnus who was embedded with troops in Iraq.

Thomas Nybo, a 1995 J-school grad, spoke to the senior seminar classes and the 2004 Multicultural Training and Global Career Conference last month at the University of Montana.

After graduating, he went to work for the Choteau (Mont.) Acantha. CNN later hired Nybo, and he worked in a variety of roles.

“I started out as a writer,” he said, “then worked my way into on-camera reporting. In 2001, CNN began sending me out to cover stories as a solo journalist -- I functioned as reporter, producer, photographer and editor.”

On Sept. 11, 2001, Nybo said he had the day off but saw what was happening on television and showed up at CNN to see if he could do anything. Nybo reported in New York for a while after Sept. 11 but wanted to be sent overseas as an embedded reporter.

Nybo had already proven he could write, shoot and edit his own stories, so getting the opportunity to go to Iraq was pretty easy.

“I asked for it,” he said.

Before he went to Iraq in 2003, he received two weeks of military training – one organized by CNN and the other by the Pentagon. The CNN war zone training taught him about military weapons, chemical agents and other survival techniques. Nybo also tested the equipment he would have in Iraq.

During the military training, the trainees went through a mock kidnapping and were taken into hiding. One of the other trainees was the widow of Daniel Pearl, a reporter for the Wall Street Journal who was murdered in Pakistan in 2002.

Nybo spent a few weeks in Texas training and getting to know the soldiers he thought he would be embedded with in Iraq. He ended up going into Iraq with the Italian 173rd Airborne Brigade and three other embedded reporters. Nybo had two weeks to get to know the paratroopers before they left for Iraq, but he said everyone was cooperative, and he even sat in on some strategy meetings.

Nybo had no apprehensions about being embedded in Iraq.

“Maybe it’s my ignorance that has served me well,” he laughed.

While embedded, Nybo covered mostly human interest stories. He liked to go out on night patrol and even had a car for two weeks while in Iraq. The vehicle allowed Nybo to drive to different places and shoot stories about the people in the cities, not about the fighting.

“I get excited about stories,” Nybo said. “They’re first-hand reports. You’re not hearing it from some PR guy.”

Nybo was the first reporter to discover that a warhead in Iraq tested positive for a chemical agent. The warhead later tested negative, but it is an important example of why Nybo thinks embedded reporters are important. The media helps the military stay in line, he believes.

“Having embedded reporters on hand also forces the military to be on its best behavior.” Nybo said. “It's kind of like having a chaperone at the high school dance.”

Nybo appreciates the opportunity to be an embedded reporter, but he has one major problem with it.

“I think everybody pulled the plug too soon,” Nybo said. “Just when things were heating up, the major networks pulled 90 percent.”

After being embedded, one of Nybo’s former bosses at CNN called him to offer him a job with UNICEF. He accepted the job in May, and has already traveled to 14 different countries. Nybo said the job is more of a public relations position rather than a reporter, but he still gets to travel and write stories.

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