By Travis Gettys
Enquirer contributor

MONTGOMERY - Maintaining freedom of the press during a war is an essential, if complicated, function of U.S. democracy, says a Navy admiral from Cincinnati who helped develop the military's embedded reporter program.

"We live with that and accept the bad times with the good because the alternative is terrible," said Rear Admiral T.L. McCreary, a Bridgetown native who attended Oak Hills High School and now is the Navy's chief of information.

The 1978 graduate of Northern Kentucky University spoke Thursday at the Montgomery Inn to about 150 members of the Navy League, a civilian group that assists service members and their families.

McCreary told the group that the embedded reporter program was intended to counter disinformation efforts of enemy governments and to educate American citizens of wartime sacrifices made by uniformed personnel.

"Bringing the horrors of war into our national psyche is something that we should do from time to time so we can decide the rationale for going to war," he said.

A woman in the audience criticized media outlets that have listed the names of war casualties, saying that inappropriately politicizes their deaths. But McCreary said troops he's spoken with think it's an appropriate tribute.

"Those that died deserve to be recognized," he said.

McCreary said the global war on terrorism is likely to last a long time, and that Americans cannot expect it to follow the normal rhythms of the news cycle in an age of 24-hour coverage.

"We get depressed pretty quickly because we're instantaneous communicators," he said. "There's going to be ups and downs."

The embedded reporter program has helped Americans opposed to the war to separate their political beliefs from their support for troops, McCreary said, because the public can see what soldiers face.

That "you-are-there" coverage has been popular with military leaders, who told McCreary they didn't get enough sleep because they stayed up watching embedded reporter coverage on television after putting in 18-hour days.