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WEEK THREE SUMMER 2000
Instructor: Jack Lule
On this page are the assignments for Monday, June 12 and Thursday, June 15. DEADLINES: You should have Monday's assignments completed by Thursday, June 15, at 7 p.m. You should have Thursday's assignment -- your first full research paper -- completed by Thursday, June 22, at 7 p.m.
WEEK THREE, MONDAY: War raises some of the most important issues facing international communication. War is perhaps the most dramatic, significant action a nation can take. Reporting about war is, likewise, perhaps the most dramatic, significant action that the news undertakes. Tension between the military and the news media is natural and maybe healthy. The military is dedicated to a successful war effort. The news media is dedicated to reporting that effort. The two objectives, both crucial to society, often clash. For this week, we will study some of the issues surrounding the reporting of war. Our first readings are drawn from, "America's Team: The Odd Couple -- A Report on the Relationship Between the Media and the Military," an interesting and innovative study undertaken by a journalist and military officer — Frank A. Aukofer and William P. Lawrence. Their research was intense. They studied press coverage and press briefings. They interviewed reporters and officers. Their "Introduction" captures many of the issues that arise from reporting on war. And they offer an excellent history of war reporting in two different chapters: "The First Two Centuries" and "Grenada to Desert Storm." A procedural note: The links above will bring you to the complete study as published by the Freedom Forum. You should use them, in case you want to read further in the site. In the event those links do not work, you can also find copies of the readings on my site at: "Introduction;" and "The First Two Centuries;" and "Grenada to Desert Storm." For your assignment, I would like you to do two things: 1) Read the three chapters by Aukofer and Lawrence and consider the evolution of American war reporting. Then, please send me an email message at jack.lule@lehigh.edu summarizing in your own words the evolution of war reporting. There's no need to repeat the details of the chapters. Just try to capture the history in your own words. 2) We will want to talk about some of these things in conference. As you will see from the readings, one of the most passionate and provocative issues in international communication concerns news coverage of the Vietnam War. After you finish the readings, think about what you have read and heard about Vietnam war coverage and then let's talk about it: What have you heard? What did the readings say? Did the U.S. news media help "lose" the war in Vietnam? Have you discussed this in classes? With friends? Bring anything you can to our conference. It's an important and interesting issue. See you there. Remember, to attain the best grade for conference discussions: You should post once early, before midnight Wednesday, responding to the assignment and perhaps making reference to the readings. Then before Thursday, 7 p.m. you should post again, at least twice, commenting on one or more of your classmates' postings. On Thursday, we will look more closely at news coverage of a conflict you perhaps are more familiar with: The Gulf War.
FIRST RESEARCH ESSAY: We have spent much of our conference time thinking about the difficult issues raised by news reporting of the Vietnam War. You have lived through another war in which the reporting was also extremely controversial: the Persian Gulf War. How did journalists report that war? What were they allowed and not allowed to do? How was coverage of that war different from others? I would like you to addresss those questions in your first research essay. As you recall, you have two research essays for this semester, each worth 20 percent of your grade. The research essays are quite different from your email responses to me and our conference discussions. Rather than your personal thoughts and opinions, you will need to study assigned readings, look at other research, and organize a well-written essay based on what these researchers have found and proposed. The research essay should be 1,000 to 2,000 words, perhaps 4 to 8 double-spaced, typewritten pages or 2 to 4 single-spaced pages. You should probably write it in a word processing program first, such as Microsoft Word or WordPerfect, saving as you go along. Be sure to make a copy on a disk. You can then send the file to me via email or paste the text into an email message. The essays need to be written with care. Email is often "allowed" to be somewhat sloppy with bad grammar and spelling. These essays should be done more carefully. One big hint to help you write and edit carefully: Keep your paragraphs small. Long blocks of writing are difficult for you to organize and edit. Mistakes easily slip by. You have a full week, until Thursday, June 22, 7 p.m. We'll have no conference discussion or email due, so you can spend the full time on your essay. Write the essay as a summary and analysis of viewpoints about reporting of the Gulf War. You may find many different viewpoints. The war raised many difficult issues. Just keep in mind that you're writing a research essay. You're trying to synthesize what people have written on this important topic. You'll want to quote the writers of the articles and people who have been quoted in the articles. You will need endnotes or footnotes. Show clearly where your information came from. Provide URL addresses if the information was taken online. You should probably start first with a good summary article, taken once again from "America's Team: The Odd Couple — A Report on the Relationship Between the Media and the Military," by Frank A. Aukofer and William P. Lawrence. Their chapter on "Coverage of the Persian Gulf War" offers a good summary of the issues. In the event that link does not work, you can also find a copy on my site at: "Gulf War." The reading is somewhat long -- though quite interesting. Please give yourself enough time to read and consider it. After this introduction, you'll need to do some research on your own. I'm interested in giving you experience at gathering your own resources. You need at least two more sources, more for a superior grade. Though the Web, of course, will have plenty of information, traditional sources of information may be as valuable. The library has excellent books exclusively devoted to coverage of the Gulf War. Infotrac, Reader's Guide to Periodical Literature and other library sources will also lead you to good articles. Again, you have lots of time
-- till Thursday, June 22, 7 p.m. Have fun and let me know if you have
questions: jack.lule@lehigh.edu.
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