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THE NEWS MEDIA AND WARFARE.
Term Paper ID:29402
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Essay Subject:
Discusses public opinion and news coverage of contemporary wars.... More...
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4 Pages / 900 Words
3 sources, 8 Citations,
MLA Format
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Paper Abstract:
Discusses public opinion and news coverage of contemporary wars. The 1991 U.S. Gulf War as an example of the first time the public watched a military battle on TV as it unfolded. Relations between the media and the military; impact of the public on these two institutions. The 1983 U.S. invasion of Grenada. War against Terrorism.
Paper Introduction:
One of the most significant developments in modern military conflict is the evolution of the news media (and public opinion) as a powerful aspect of warfare. During the 1991 U.S. Gulf War, for the first time in history the public watched a military battle as it unfolded via live transmission. In times of war, the media and military are institutions that must work out a framework for operation. This is particularly true since the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution guarantees freedom of the press, and because the media and the military serve different public functions and possess different values and interests. Perhaps the biggest conflict these two sociopolitical institutions exhibit is the media’s belief that it acts as a system of checks and balances on the military in performing its duty to inform the public, while the military believes it has a right
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Constitution guarantees freedom ofthe press, and because the media and the military serve different publicfunctions and possess different values and interests. Our guy just sat around in a little room, feelingfrustrated" (Cloud, 199 , 61). In times of international conflict, mostsocieties support their governments and leaders despite personalconvictions of right or wrong. For example, the Gulf War was framed as protecting amember of the United Nations (Kuwait) and as a means of protecting the flowof inexpensive oil to western industrialized societies. That this was not thecase, and in light of the restrictive and pro-military policies ofSecretary of State Donald Rumsfeld, the media played an even less effectiverole in the second war in the Gulf, the 2 3 invasion of Iraq by Americanand British forces to topple the government of Saddam Hussein on thepremise that his government had weapons of mass destruction. Another school of thought argues thatsupport for policy issues is directly related to the way policy ispresented. The First Amendment demands it. In times of war, the media and military are institutionsthat must work out a framework for operation. A third school of thought combines these approaches and arguesthat presentation of policy and personal beliefs result in support for oropposition to policy. Columbia Journalism Review, 4 (6), Available: http://216.239.39.1 /search?q=cache:S3lbCu8n LmQC:www.cjr.org/year/ 2/2/thompson.asp+Thompson+The+Brief+Ineffective+ Life+of+the+Pentagon%27s+Media+Pool&hl=en&ie=UTF-8, 1- (Jan 8, 199 ). Perhaps the biggestconflict these two sociopolitical institutions exhibit is the media'sbelief that it acts as a system of checks and balances on the military inperforming its duty to inform the public, while the military believes ithas a right to restrict information from the public based on operationaland national security. Independent press coverage is an overstatement. How reporters missed the war: On a tight leash, journalists assail the Pentagon's pool system. Ilike open coverage. Gottschalk (1992)argues that the media, influenced by public opinion, basically reported theGulf War essentially as the administration wished it would (449-451). Cloud (199 ) provides the opinions of variousreporters who have been part of the National Media Pool. This is particularly truesince the First Amendment of the U.S. As the Washington bureau chieffor the Associated Press, Jonathan Wolman, notes: "I don't like pools. World Policy Journal, 449-486.Thompson, M. The Gulf War relations between these twoinstitutions demonstrated this conflict and influenced the functionalperformance of both the military and the media. Others, however, feel the entire pool is anineffective sham that provides journalists with little opportunity toprovide real coverage of military conflict. (Mar/Apr 2 2). During the Gulf War public opinion was also a factor that causedconfrontation between the media and the military, a factor that had animpact on functional performance. How to ensure independent presscoverage of the nation's most sensitive military operations" (1). Time, 61.Gottschalk, M. Operation desert cloud: The media and the Gulf War. As Thompson (2 2) notes, "the pool is survived by atleast some journalists who dutifully participated in such a half-bakedscheme, believing that was better than none at all" (3). During the 1983 invasion of Grenada, reporters were banned by thegovernment from following the operation. The Pentagon was also empowered with the ability to set rulesand restrictions on participation and coverage. ReferencesCloud, S. Thompson (2 2) contends that the Media Pool should have beendispatched to cover the retaliation efforts of the War Against Terrorismagainst those responsible for September 11, 2 1. While a minority of voices argue that press rendered theAmerican people the best media war coverage ever known, a majority arguedthat the coverage was far from ideal due to Pentagon restrictions on thepress. In How Reporters Missed the War,journalist Stanley W. The public's influence in the interplay between these twoinstitutions is controversial. During the 1991 U.S. Because of this public support, the media often lent supportto the policies and actions of the government during the Gulf War in orderto help build consensus among the American public. Some journalistsfeel that restricted coverage is better than no coverage at all, such aswhat occurred during Grenada. This is exactly the support theadministration desired. Despite many Canadian press admonishments against the use of forceto dislodge Iraq from Kuwait, the American media gave its overwhelmingsupport for the use of military means. The Pentagonbasically calls all of the shots with respect to media movement, access toinformation, and timing of coverage. According to Gottschalk (1992), the U.S.media succumbed to prepublication review and censorship by the militaryduring the conflict (449). In afree society, the primary role of the media must always be to inform thepublic, not mislead it. One school of thought argues that thepublic knows little about foreign affairs and public opinion is based onpersonal feelings and beliefs. It is the loss of this function of the media that causes criticism ofmedia coverage. W. The creation of the Media Pool gave thePentagon great latitude in determining when a pool will be activated ordeactivated. Gottschalk (1992) makes the argument that the U.S.media demonstrated a pro-war bias that was, in effect, manipulated by thegovernment. During thecourse of the war with Iraq, the American media signed a contract with thePentagon to play by their rules, and pro-war sentiment and a lack ofobjectives reporting marked the newscasts and reporting on the war. According to Mark Thompson(2 2), the Pentagon pool was basically a compromise between militaryofficials and the press - one that remains ineffective: "It was animperfect solution to a vexing problem. If the media isrestricted in its presentation of policy by the military, one can see how avital checks and balances control is lost in the framing of public opinion. (Summer 1992). One of the most significant developments in modern military conflictis the evolution of the news media (and public opinion) as a powerfulaspect of warfare. The public reacted no differently duringthe Gulf War. In response to the criticism thatfollowed, the Pentagon created a National Media Pool of rotating newsorganizations (Cloud, 199 , 61). Gulf War, for the first time inhistory the public watched a military battle as it unfolded via livetransmission. The brief ineffective life of the Pentagon's media pool.
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