Seeing Through the Conflict: Military-Media Relations

Abstract

Abstract : My goal for this study is to not only examine historical military-media relationships, but also to provide a few recommendations as a way ahead toward improving future military-media relationships. Conflict between reporter and the military is not new. As war correspondents became of age in the Civil War, the military began its determination to protect its operations. The media have often called this determination censorship. Since the U.S. military's 1983 invasion of Grenada, commanders have done a questionable job of accommodating the media, as evident by the findings of the Sidle and Hoffman Panels. While this phenomenon of poor support may be due in part to the commander's personal feelings toward the media, it may also be that the commanders public affairs staffs are simply over taxed. As a result, combatant commanders must rely on ad hoc public affairs organizations, such as Joint Information Bureaus, to manage their media operations in combat. Our best opportunity to garner and sustain national and international support for armed conflict in Iraq is by maintaining a healthy relationship with the media. How well our military performs in this media relations endeavor will directly affect the U.S. and international perceptions of our success in Iraq. This research will examine the media environment, historical trends, DoD public affairs policy evolution, and the current status of military public affairs to determine if maybe, now is the time to transform our processes to better support the media and the American public.