Reporting War explores the social responsibilities of the journalist during times of military conflict. News media treatments of international crises, especially the one underway in Iraq, are increasingly becoming the subject of public controversy, and discussion is urgently needed. Each of this book's contributors challenges familiar assumptions about war reporting from a distinctive perspective. An array of pressing issues associated with conflicts over recent years are identified and critiqued, always with an eye to what they can tell us about improving journalism today. Special attention is devoted to recent changes in journalistic forms and practices, and the ways in which they are shaping the visual culture of war, and issues discussed, amongst many, include: the influence of censorship and propaganda 'us' and 'them' news narratives access to sources '24/7 rolling news' and the 'CNN effect' military jargon (such as 'friendly fire' and 'collateral damage') 'embedded' and 'unilateral' reporters tensions between objectivity and patriotism. The book raises important questions about the very future of journalism during wartime, questions which demand public dialogue and debate, and is essential reading for students taking courses in news and news journalism, as well as for researchers, teachers and practitioners in the field.

Introduction -- Risk and war journalism -- Bearing witness: morality, risk and war reporting -- Organisational and occupational risks and war reporting -- Technology and risk management: telegraph, telex and Twitter -- Media on the battlefield: risk and embedding -- Asymmetrical wars: reporting post war Iraq -- Risk and reporting new forms of conflict -- Covering victims, casualties and death -- Gender, risk and war reporting

“Imagine George Costanza from Seinfeld being sent off to cover the Iraq War . . . Hilarious.” —Michiko Kakutani, The New York Times Chris Ayres is a small-town boy, a hypochondriac, and a neat freak with an anxiety disorder. Not exactly the picture of a war correspondent. But when his boss asks him if he would like to go to Iraq, he doesn’t have the guts to say no. After signing a one million dollar life-insurance policy, studying a tutorial on repairing severed limbs, and spending twenty thousand dollars on camping gear (only to find out that his bright yellow tent makes him a sitting duck), Ayres is embedded with a battalion of gung ho Marines who either shun him or threaten him when he files an unfavorable story. As time goes on, though, he begins to understand them (and his inexplicably enthusiastic fellow war reporters) more and more: Each night of terrifying combat brings, in the morning, something more visceral than he has ever experienced—the thrill of having won a fight for survival. War Reporting for Cowards tells, with “self-deprecating wit”, the story of Iraq in a way that is extraordinarily honest and bitterly hilarious (The New Yorker). “Heartbreakingly funny.” —Anthony Swofford, author of Jarhead “Chris Ayres has invented a new genre: a rip-roaring tale of adventure and derring-don’t.” —Toby Young, author of How to Lose Friends and Alienate People “Darkly entertaining.” —Los Angeles Times “Ayres’s stories of life with Marines are gripping—in part because he’s the perfect neurotic foil.” —People

`No book is more timely than this collection, which analyses brilliantly the Western media′s relentless absorption into the designs of dominant, rapacious power′ - John Pilger `A most timely book, with many valuable insights′ - Martin Bell O.B.E `It has long been known that the outcome of war is deeply influenced by the battle to win ′hearts and minds′. This book provides a stimulating set of perspectives which combine the analyses of prominent academics with the experiences of leading journalists′ - Professor Tom Woodhouse, University of Bradford `This volume represents an all-star cast of authors who have a tremendous amount of knowledge about media and world conflict. One of its strengths is that it doesn′t focus entirely narrowly on media, but puts the discussion of media issues in the context of changes in the world order in military doctrine′ - Professor Daniel C. Hallin, University of California `This book comes just in time. A coherent and wide-ranging collection of data, analyses and insights that help our understanding of the complex interaction between communication and conflict. A major intellectual contribution to critical thinking about the early 21st century′ - Cees J Hamelink, Professor International Communication, University of Amsterdam With what new tools do governments manage the news in order to prepare us for conflict? Are the media responsible for turning conflict into infotainment? Is reporting gender specific? How do journalists view their role in covering distant wars? This book critically examines the changing contours of media coverage of war and considers the complexity of the relationship between mass media and governments in wartime. Assessing how far the political, cultural and professional contexts of media coverage have been affected by 9/11 and its aftermath, the volume also explores media representations of the `War on Terrorism′ from regional and international perspectives, including new actors such as the Qatar-based Al-Jazeera - the pan-Arabic television network. One key theme of the book is how new information and communication technologies are influencing the production, distribution and reception of media messages. In an age of instant global communication and round-the-clock news, powerful governments have refined their public relations machinery, particularly in the way warfare is covered on television, to market their version of events effectively to their domestic as well as international viewing public. Transnational in its intellectual scope and in perspectives, War and the Media includes essays from internationally known academics along with contributions from media professionals working for leading broadcasters such as BBC World and CNN.

"For Karl-Friedrich Walling, this unprecedented accomplishment was the work of many hands and many generations, but of Alexander Hamilton especially."--BOOK JACKET.

Combat, cigars, and whiskeyÑfrom the jungles of Cuba and the mountains of the Northwest Frontier, to the banks of the Nile and the plains of South Africa, comes this action-packed tale of Winston ChurchillÕs adventures as a war correspondent in the Age of Empire.

When the war was declared in August 1914, one of the first acts to be implemented by the politicians and military was a strict censorship on the newspapers. As the poacher turned gamekeeper, Winston Churchill said: The war is going to be fought in a fog and the best place for correspondence about the war is London, The military sought to have one of their officers, dubbed “Eyewitness”, to be the official spokesman to enable them to control what the newspapers could print. In the early stages of the war, there were many reporters on the Continent who were evading military arrest and sending back reports about the reality of the situation. Several volunteered with the various ambulance services just to disguise their real purpose, but all were eventually banished. Having finally cleared all reporters from fighting area, the military was persuaded to allow a small number of accredited war reporters to be chaperoned around the battle fronts. They were closely watched and their reports thoroughly scrutinised, until they eventually became almost a part of the Headquarters hierarchy. Later, diaries and letters revealed how many of them really felt and they had to bear the post-war shame of not writing the truth. The Western Front was not the only front in this world war. Reporters found censorship less rigidly applied on the Eastern Front, Palestine and Italy. One correspondent, whose reports famously brought about the sacking of the campaign commander and the ending of the fruitless and bloody Gallipoli Expedition, bravely broke ranks and was finished as a war reporter. War reporting was not confined to print. The emergence of photographers and cinematographers on the battlefield has left us with an extraordinary record. Unlike their writing brothers, the photographers could get close to the action and shoot what they liked. The resultant film was, of course, censored but thankfully nothing was discarded and museum archives are full of their stunning work. Having been the pre-war stars of their newspapers, the war reporters experienced a post-war wave of anger and cynicism which took years to overcome.