War and Television

The Haymarket Series

by Bruce Cumings

This work studies television reporting of the US at war since World War II, including detailed coverage of television‘s role in the Gulf. Cumings offers insights into the everyday operations of the media and assesses the possibilities of mobilizing them for political purposes. At the centre of this volume is the tale of Cumings‘ own experience as expert consultant to a Thames Television production— The Unknown War. The book also features film reviews, anecdotes and several invectives against an array of media executives, retired soldiers and bureaucrats.

Genres: History

309 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 1992

About the author

A specialist in the history of Korea, Bruce Cumings is the Gustavus F. and Ann M. Swift Distinguished Service Professor in History, and former chair of the history department at the University of Chicago.

Reviews

[Rob Tesselaar · Rating 3 out of 5]

The author provides a good overview of the influence of television on war through to the Gulf War (the book was written in the early 90's). Then he shifts to the behind the scenes description of a documentary on the Korean War he was involved in. While insightful, he clearly has an agenda and an axe to grind with how the documentary was edited and descends to personal attacks. The author acknowledges this issue at one point when he comments on his own arrogance, but I quickly lost interest when the book hit that point and the only real lesson is for the audience to be critical of any potential bias even from reputable sources (the US version of the documentary was presented through PBS).