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Description of Shooting the Messenger

As the literature on military-media relations grows, it is informed by antagonism either from journalists who report on wars or from ex-soldiers in their memoirs. Academics who attempt more judicious accounts rarely have any professional military or media experience.

A working knowledge of the operational constraints of both professions underscores Shooting the Messenger. A veteran war correspondent and think tank director, Paul L. Moorcraft has served in the British Ministry of Defence, while historian-by-training Philip M. Taylor is a professor of international communications who has lectured widely to the U.S. military and at NATO institutions. Some of the topics they examine in this wide-ranging history of military-media relations are:

– the interface between soldiers and civilian reporters covering conflicts
– the sometimes grey area between reporters’ right or need to know and the operational security constraints imposed by the military
– the military’s manipulation of journalists who accept it as a trade-off for safer battlefield access
– the resultant gap between images of war and their reality
– the evolving nature of media technology and the difficulties—and opportunities—this poses to the military
– journalistic performance in reporting conflict as an observer or a participant

Moorcraft and Taylor provide a bridge over which each side can pass and a path to mutual understanding.

Title Information

ISBN:

9781574889475

Pages:

293 pages

Format:

Hardback

Product Code:

267388

Publisher:

Potomac Books Inc

Published:

26/05/2008

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About Paul L. Moorcraft and Philip M. Taylor

Paul L. Moorcraft directs London’s Centre for Foreign Policy Analysis and is a visiting professor at Cardiff University’s School of Journalism, Media, and Cultural Studies. He has been a war correspondent; a military affairs expert for the BBC, Sky, and Al-Jazeera; and an editor of security and foreign policy magazines. He lives in the United Kingdom

Philip M. Taylor is a professor of international communications at the University of Leeds. His books include Munitions of the Mind: A History of Propaganda from the Ancient World to the Present Day. He is a fellow of the Center on Public Diplomacy of the University of Southern California. He lives in the United Kingdom.

Contents of Shooting the Messenger

Preface ix
Acknowledgments xv

1: The Origins of War Reporting 1
Shooting the Messenger 1
The Rise of the Specials 6
Russell and the Crimean War 7
The American Civil War 12
The Imperial Wars 15
Entente between Pen and Sword 28

2: The World Wars 31
The Wars between the Wars 46
The Russian Revolution and Its Repercussions 49
Abyssinia 50
The Spanish Civil War 52
The Gathering Storm 55
The Second World War 57

3: The Cold War (of Words) 69
The Korean War 70
French Indochina 73
Suez: No End of a Lesson 74
Algeria: A Savage War 75
Britain’s Colonial Wars 77
America's War on the Doorstep 80
Vietnam 82
The Empire Strikes Back 88
Grenada, Panama, and Haiti 94
End of History? 98

4: African "Sideshows"? 103
Rhodesia: Arguing with Arithmetic and History 106
South Africa 112
Somalia 122
5: Europe’s Intra-State Conflicts 127
Balkan Wars 128
Kosovo 135
Northern Ireland 140
Hidden War: Chechnya 144

6: The Middle East and Afghanistan 149
Israel vs. the Palestinians 150
Iran 151
Afghanistan 153
The Gulf War 156
The Intifadas 168
Media Influence 171

7: The Long War 175
Afghanistan 176
"With Us or Against Us" 178
The Iraq War 181
Embed or In Bed? 183
Atrocity Stories 190
Shaping the Information Space 192
The Occupation Fiasco 196
The Other Occupation 202
Troubles Elsewhere 205
Hearts and Minds in the Long Haul 208

8: The Mechanics of Reporting War and Peace 213
Reporting Peace 213
The Decline of Foreign News Reporting 216
The Media in Post-Conflict Interventions 221
The Media Operators: Hidden Persuaders? 223

9: No More Heroes? 231
Witnesses to History 231
The CNN Effect? 233
Hacks versus the Bean Counters 238
Notes 243
Selected Bibliography 283
Index 293
About the Authors