The Military and the Press: An Uneasy TruceBecause news is a weapon of war--affecting public opinion, troop morale, even strategy--for more than a century America's wartime officials have sought to control or influence the press, most recently by "embedding" reporters within military units in Iraq. This second front, where press freedom and military imperatives often do battle, is the territory explored in The Military and the Press, a history of how press-military relations have evolved during the twentieth and twenty-first century in response to the demands of politics, economics, technology, and legal and social forces. Author Michael S. Sweeney takes a chronological approach, considering freedoms and restraints such as the First Amendment, court decisions, and government and military directives that have affected the press during World Wars I and II, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, and the more recent conflicts. He explores the ongoing themes of wartime censorship and propaganda, as well as operational security in the battle zone. In chapters addressing the recent shift in military strategy in dealing with the press, Sweeney discusses new forms of control--from embedding journalists and discouraging unaccredited "unilaterals" to developing the news agenda through a barrage of briefings, sound bites, and visuals and appeals to patriotism that border on domestic propaganda. With profiles of a few specific journalists--from Richard Harding Davis covering the Spanish-American War to Christiane Amanpour reporting from the conflicts in Bosnia and Iraq--this deft blend of journalistic history and analysis should serve as a call-to-arms to a public not always well served by a military-press standoff. |
Contents
War Correspondents | 1 |
World War I Propaganda | 35 |
Journalists and the Home Front | 63 |
Copyright | |
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accredited Afghanistan agencies American Press armed forces army Arnett Atkinson atrocity attack audiences Baghdad battle battlefield began bombing British broadcast casualties censor civilians combat conflict correspondents cover coverage Creel Crimea Crimea to Vietnam Defense dispatches Drew Pearson editors embedded journalists Embedded Reporters enemy Ernie Pyle escorts fighting freedom German Higgins home front Ibid ican images interview invasion Iraq Iraqi Japanese Jeffery journalism journalists Katovsky and Carlson Knightley Korea Kuwait MacArthur magazine Moeller Murrow National navy newspaper Office of Censorship operations Palmer paper patriotic Pearson Pentagon percent Persian Gulf Persian Gulf War Pew Research Center photographs political pool president press-military Price propaganda public opinion published Pyle's radio release Richard Harding Davis Roosevelt Saudi Schwarzkopf secret self-censorship ship Smith soldiers South Vietnam story Sweeney television tion told troops United Vietcong war's Washington Post William World World War II wrote York