Media and Propaganda in Times of War

Paper Summary:

This paper attempts to investigate if the Western media would willingly co-operate as an instrument of propaganda in time of war by examining the attitude of the media in the recent conflicts such as those of Iraq, Yugoslavia and the Falklands. Various views presented in literature are considered along with the prominent opinions that have been presented in order to attempt to reach a conclusion.

Introduction
The Military and the Media in Times of War
Media Bias in Recent History of Wars
Conclusion

From the Paper:

"The military denied permission to the media to accompany the Special Forces into Afghanistan and only 29 reporters were permitted to cover the Falkland conflict [Brown 2004]. The reporters covering the Falkland conflict became very friendly with the troops as a result of living together and sharing the facilities as well as the dangers and very favourable reports were presented to the audience even when things went wrong because they were 'our boys' fighting 'our enemies' and this is quite natural in any war [Seppala 2003]. Hence, the presence of 'neutral reports' in a war can do much to enhance the standard of reporting, but even these neutral reporters can be subjected to censorship, information manipulation and denial of cooperation. Even the neutral reporters will not be liked and believed by all. Enlightened generals do understand the requirements to have the media on their side because reporting on the conduct of war can influence key decisions about the war that are made by politicians [Boje 2002]."

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