Topic: A History of War Reporting Instructor: Jack
Lule On this page are the assignments for Monday, Week Two. DEADLINES: You should have Monday's assignments completed by Thursday at 7 p.m.
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. Thus, war raises some of the most important issues facing international communication. Tension between the military and national news media during wartime is natural and may be healthy. The military is dedicated to a successful war effort. The news media are 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 copies of the chapters at my site. The complete study used to be available chapter by chapter as web pages, published by the Freedom Forum. Now, however, the study must be downloaded complete as an Acrobat file. You can do that if you are very interested. Or you can just read from my site at the links above. 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 and analyzing in your own words the evolution of war reporting. There's no need to repeat the details of the chapters. But try to capture the history and evolution of war reporting 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 in the 1960s and 1970s. More than 30 years later, that war still affects media coverage of war. After you finish the readings, think about why Vietnam war coverage was so different from coverage of other wars. Why was it so controversial? Also, think about what you have read and heard and seen about Vietnam war coverage. Books, movies, TV shows and other media have looked at the news and the Vietnam War. Then let's talk about it: What do you think? What have you heard? What did the readings say? Did the U.S. news media help "lose" the war in Vietnam? Was it good to have that kind of reporting? Have you discussed this in classes? With friends? Family? 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, responding to the assignment and perhaps making reference to the readings. Then Wednesday and Thursday 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 conflicts you perhaps are more familiar with: The Persian Gulf War and the recent military action in Afghanistan.
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