Media in War

For university I am currently enrolled in a double degree – Journalism/Arts.  I took a year off between High School and university to work to afford to study, as well as take a look at what it was in Arts I actually wanted to major in. And 6 weeks in to my courses, I’ve already decided on 2 majors.

Let’s just say so far, the Peace and Conflict Studies introductory course has absolutely blown my mind, and reminded me what I am doing with my life. Last week’s lecture was on “The Role of Media in war and Peace” and I have had an inspiring and eye opening 6 days between then and my tutorial that finished exactly 23 minutes ago as I write this.

Example of WWI Propaganda

The roll of media, as we’re already aware, is ever changing, and constantly being remade as technology advances. As consumers, we are taught from an early age to be up to date with current affairs, and the importance of watching the news of an evening.

However, what I am sure many of my peers are unaware of is the power of governments to turn the media against its audience. A classic example is the conscription campaigns of WWI and WWII of both allies and enemies.  We were shown soldiers as heroes, portrayed as national icons, and while I admit, Australia is not as bad as the United States in this aspect, (for one, WWI was not forced conscription) this propaganda was then used against those who didn’t go to war either, being made to wear white feathers to show their cowardice if they had not fought in the war.

Fast forward to the Vietnam War, and you have the opposite. The complete shift in technology meant people were reporting on every aspect of the war, to the point where it was violence that caught our attention. At first we were shocked as we learnt the true aspects of what fighting the war was costing. As we came to terms with civilian deaths and how our own soldiers were dying, the Government lost support. But soon this changed and the same trends we have in Hollywood movies, we moved on to real life. I like to believe there are many journalists that worked with the best intensions, but the shift to a capitalist economy made the newspaper saying: If it bleeds, it leads. It was now the extreme opposite, the media become almost emotionally involved with the war, and we lost the independent 3^rd perspective we needed the media to be. While definitely better than false information feed by the government beforehand, this was in no way 100% accurate either. We were privy to the absolute worst of the war, and as America’s Pentagon so graciously believes the war was lost “because of the media”.

Consequences of the Vietnam War have lasted much longer than the actual blood shed on the battlefield. After that, the United States Government sent out to make a point. Their next war against Grenada, was a complete media blackout until the war was over, which the United States easily took victory. Of course, Journalists everywhere were outraged! What about human rights?! What about the Right to Information, or the Right to Free Speech! The United States responded by basically saying “there will be x amount of journalists at any one time, to report in x area on x days and whatever you write, must be submitted for review before it is published”. And, again we were outraged!!

Or, were we?

The Pentagon did an excellent job distracting us. And, I mean excellent! Currently this system is still being used for War-zone reporting. The Army will decide who will report, what place they will report, and what days they will report – with the excuse that it is for “their own safety”. To me, embedded journalism just isn’t good enough.

Since I was about 13 years old after reading Aldous Huxley’s Nineteen-Eighty Four and once I first understood how Governments have the ability to censor media, I promised myself one day, I will be reporting the truth from a war zone. Regardless of the risk or dangers, as journalists it is our duty to report not only the truth (as we did in Vietnam) but the WHOLE truth. I look up to Kevin Sites, who utilised new technology and published on his blog what others were afraid to do, only to be kicked out of the war, and lose his job. He was not afraid. He was honest, and to me, that is the very best quality any journalist can attain.

In class, we are always hearing that we need to “get outraged!” as a journalist.

Well, today, I am extremely outraged.

Please, if you have not already, watch this Documentary. You will be outraged too.