War Journalism and the “KIA Journalist”: The Cases of David Bloom and Michael Kelly

Abstract

This paper examines mediated discourse around the deaths of two prominent journalists who died in the Iraq war in 2003: NBC reporter David Bloom and Washington Post columnist Michael Kelly. Their deaths are interpreted by journalists though narratives related to bravery, volunteerism, sacrifice, and witnessing. A discursive construct, labeled the “KIA journalist,” develops that situates the death of the war reporter within broader tropes connected to the normative journalistic role. Ultimately, Kelly and Bloom are placed in a framework that strives to increase journalism's cultural authority by positioning journalists as representations of the collective good.

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