The Media and the War on Terrorism

by Stephen Hess (Editor)

These candid conversations capture the difficulties of reporting during crisis and war, particularly the tension between government and the press. The participants include distinguished journalists—American and foreign, print and broadcast—and prominent public officials, past and present. They illuminate the struggle to balance free speech and the right to know with the need to protect sensitive information in the national interest. As the Information Age collides with the War on Terrorism, that challenge becomes even more critical and daunting. "We are very careful in what we talk about publicly. We do not want to paint a picture for the bad guys. So we don't talk very much at all about what we're going to do going forward."—Victoria Clarke, Department of Defense "This was a war that was very different. It was conducted primarily by about 200 to 250 special forces soldiers on the ground. There were no reporters with those soldiers until after the fall of Kandahar, until the war was essentially over. There were no eyes and ears, and that's the way the Pentagon wants it."—John McWethy, ABC News "I covered Capitol Hill for a very long time and was always astounded by the nonpolitical motivation of a lot of people that are up there who really do want to make the world better, want to make the U.S. better. So don't come away believing that because there are political implications that there are always political motivations."—Candy Crowley, CNN "There is a feeling among the community, Muslim Americans, and also overseas that we might become the new enemy. But so far nobody knows whether it is just because of the war or if it's going to last."—Hafez Al-Mirazi, Al-Jazeera Cosponsored with the Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics and Public Policy at the Kennedy School, Harvard University.

Genres: Terrorism

327 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2003

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Reviews

[Ietrio · Rating 1 out of 5]

There is no war. It is only an euphemism about the government pushing an agenda and erasing some more of the civil rights.

There is no "media". There are people. Some generate trends. Some follow the trends. Some have beliefs so strong they ignore the trends. And so on. Beyond that there is the ownership. Which can change the twist put on a story by a given writer. And there is the audience. And the censorship context. And the people buying the publicity space. And the media can be on paper. Or online. Or on radio. Or on TV. And only if you take the TV there cable TV and aerial TV, each with their own set of rules. And both controlled by the same governmental agency that makes sure that toddlers will not be harmed while watching a certain news show. And than there are the cultural norms. Hence some person's private life is "newsworthy" and should be made public, but otherwise everybody should say "the N word" and not THE word. Back when Marylin Monroe was alive, things were the exact opposite. And these morons will fill a book talking about this god called Media that eats burgers and does not care about their Socialist sensibilities enough.

And Terrorism? Well, the guys were freedom fighters when they were doing the same to the Soviets. And they were using taxpayer money to buy the said weapons. And it seems that if the perpetrator is white and Christian he becomes an isolated case of madness.