Shifting perspectives in war communication

Updated 3-11-08

Iraq War Correspondent Interviews

NPR “Talk of the Nation,” 3-6-08

Anne Garrels, NPR senior foreign correspondent, was one of 16 U.S. journalists to remain in Baghdad during the initial phase of the war.

John F. Burns of The New York Times traveled to Baghdad in 2002 and served as Baghdad bureau chief until 2007.

Ted Koppel, then anchor of Nightline (ABC News), embedded with the 3rd Infantry Division in Kuwait. In April 2003, he accompanied several thousand soldiers as they crossed the Euphrates River into Baghdad.

Hoda Abdel-Hamid has reported on Iraq for the last five years, first as a producer for ABC News, then as a correspondent for Al Jazeera English.

Host: Neal Conan.

Arc of U.S. Public Opinion toward Iraq: 2003-2007

Pew Research Center on declining public support: http://pewresearch.org/pubs/642/public-sees-progress-in-war-effort

John Mueller, political scientist, on Iraq/Vietnam syndrome – decline in public support comparable to Korea and Vietnam.

http://www.foreignaffairs.org/20051101faessay84605/john-mueller/the-iraq-syndrome.html

Survey: Iraq war journalists suggest situation better, but still more grim than reported (November 2007)

http://journalism.org/node/8621

Thomas E. Ricks, military correspondent, Washington Post, author of Fiasco: The American Military Adventure in Iraq (2006)

Online discussion 3-11-08 on declining public interest in the war, other topics

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/discussion/2008/03/09/DI2008030902237.html

Course overview

War communication distinctive in informing citizens of democratic society (U.S.) about situation where national interest is at stake.

Opportunity to examine central concerns of communications study – economics, political control, professionalism, organizational pressures, changing technologies, cultural context, presumed and measured influences on public opinion – all in situations of national and social stress.

Method: Historical case studies of communications and democratic in wartime, primarily wars of 20^th century plus Iraq/Afghanistan. (World Wars I and II; Korea/Vietnam, Wars of intervention, Gulf Wars I and II.)

Purpose: Allow comparisons over time of changing characteristics of war communications and communications policies.

Each war period addressed in terms of existing values of journalism and communication, primary contemporary technology, and affects on communication study.

Hypothesis: Given long history of isolationism, sporadic interest in events outside U.S. borders America, this national outlook will be reflected in orientation of communication system. However, although war communication tends to follow political leadership, also operates as an extension of professional values and practices in any time period. In other words, what information reached audiences through mass communication in wartime has been shaped as much by internal media pressures, professional debates as by external events, such as the events of the war itself.

Case studies

World War I – print/early film, experiments in propaganda, stimulus to studies of “propaganda,” media impacts on public opinion. Lippmann, Lasswell.

World War II – Radio (‘War of the Worlds,’ Murrow), film (Capra). Journalists part of “the team,” shifting theories of public impact toward “minimal effects.” Lazarsfeld.

Korea/Vietnam – Broadcast network television, measured public opinion (Mueller), journalism and government both strongly affected by war’s events and interpretations of outcome. White House and military: Necessity to control war information. Journalism: Questions about being on “the team,” workability of “objectivity.” (Hallin, Schudson.)

Gulf War I/Bosnia – Cable television (“CNN Effect”), restricted non-military media access (“Vietnam syndrome”), press pools, expanded White House/military public relations efforts.

Iraq/Afghanistan – Internet, live cable television, growing citizen access to non-U.S. sources of information. More war access for journalists: embedding. Adoption of strategic communication policies by White House/military. Intensive public opinion polling, content analyses of news accounts, fragmenting media audiences, economic pressures on “old” media, crisis of professionalism among journalists, new media and new ideas among theorists and individual journalists of what should be appropriate role in wartime – or peacetime.

Enduring questions

What is the relationship between communication and democracy in time of war or national crisis?

What is the role of government in shaping public opinion in a democratic society?

What is the role of journalism in shaping public opinion in a democratic society?

Who or what is a journalist? What do they stand for?