Media_and_the_Military__We_Do_Need_to_Control_Media_Access_

As a senior leader in the military, my chances of becoming the target of a media interview, or having to manage the media, will be exponentially increased due to the ever increasing conflicts that the United States is involved in. I as Field Grade Officer, the lessons taught by the Army Command and General Staff College Intermediate Level Education Program regarding how to deal with the media in the military will play an integral role in my duties to effectively lead and win the fight on the battle field over the next 10 years of my career. I will need to understand media management and how it impacts our troops and how it may impact our success on the battle field. There are varying opinions whether or not journalists should be present during combat operations. Regardless of the opinions on journalistic practices if these practices are not properly managed it more than likely will result in portraying a negative image for the United States Armed Forces. During World War II the media portrayed a picture of the U.S. Armed Forces as being heroes. The messages sent back home to the public recalling stories that my mother and father told me were nothing but positive news reels played prior to watching the featured movie at the local cinema. Magazines such as Life put pictures of the biggest and strongest men on the cover to send an image not only to the civilian population but to our enemy that the U.S. military was a force to be reckoned with. This did not happen by accident. The leaders at the time were very much in tune with how the media should be dealt with without outright censorship. “General William Sherman announced: I hate newspapermen. They come into camp and pick up their camp rumors and print them as facts. I regard them as spies, which, in truth, they are. If I killed them all, there would be news from Hell before breakfast.” (Lacey 2004) Although General Sherman’s approach to the media was extreme, he knew that the media was a force that needed to be managed. At the beginning of the Vietnam War, the media for the most part generated stories in support of the United States Armed Forces. This had a profound impact on the opinion the civilian population had of our Armed Forces and the Morale of the Armed Forces as well. The stories generated by the media at that time took the vantage point of an effort to quell the advancement of communism as an extension of the “Cold War”. (Cross 2009) The image portrayed did not happen by accident. The senior military leaders at that time had been involved in past armed conflict and based on their experiences managed the media to get the militarie’s story and view point out to the American public rather than allowing the media to conjure up its own view point and perception on the combat operations in Vietnam. When I was a young boy, I remember my father discussing the U.S. involvement in Vietnam. Although he did not agree with the government’s policy he and most of the population at the onset of the war had a positive image of the U.S. Armed Forces and when Soldiers arrived home they were welcomed back as patriots in the fight for liberty. In contrast as the Vietnam war progressed, journalist were going deeper into the combat environment than ever before reporting on every aspect of the war with little or no censorship or control of how much exposure the media had to combat operations. (Cross 2009) The stories told were written or broadcasted to sensationalize the story to increase news paper sales and to increase the number of viewers watching the evening news. Perhaps General Sherman was not far off in his opinion. I remember watching the evening news as a young boy and seeing the graphic images on the television capturing some of the most bloody and violent scenes ever presented to the public which portrayed the theme that our soldiers were criminals conducting murderous acts with wonton disregard for humanity. This shift in media coverage led to a shift in the opinion the American public had of our Soldiers returning home. One night stands out in my memory more than the others. I was watching in shock at a live broadcast of our Soldiers coming home from the war coming home tired, wounded, and maimed disembarking planes, and rather than being welcomed home as Heroes and Patriots in the fight for liberty and stopping the spread of communism and being greeted by a welcoming crowd waving the American flag and cheering them on. They were actually greeted by angry mobs, waving signs of protest, burning the American flag not only in protest of the war but also being falsely accused as “Baby Killers” and being spit upon. For us as leaders to ever allow that to happen to our troops in the future would be deplorable. Currently with the war in Iraq, we haven’t seen the angry mobs. What is actually happening now is equally as damaging. At the onset of the war, the media was supportive of the military operations in Iraq and the mission objectives to find weapons of mass destruction. We had journalists imbedded with our fighting troops broadcasting the spectacular success of our decisive military action and how we overpowered the Iraqi Republican Guard sending them running with their tails between their legs pushing them out of their country. The stories sold due to the footage of actual combat from the Soldiers perspective had never been seen by the general population in such clarity and detail. (Lacey 2004) Parallel this with my Vietnam example, as the war progress and the intensity of the conflict diminished and the mission objective seemed to be un-achievable the media gradually turned. (Lacey 2004) Some may say it is due to the media not being imbedded with the forces that caused this and believe that the military ejected the journalists from imbedding with our combat operations. (Lacey 2004) Face it, intense combat action sells news papers and achieves high ratings for the evening news, there is very little to sensationalize when you have a military force in the defensive stabilizing mode giving humanitarian aid to the host nation. (Lacey 2004) Bottom line the media corporations will not pay for correspondents to be imbedded with a combat force if they are not engaged in violent combat action it just doesn’t sell. (Lacey 2004) So…what direction do journalists go when they can’t find the positives to sensationalize they look to the negative as they did in Vietnam. The end result is an erosion of support from the home land which has a negative impact on the Morale of the Troops and when word gets back to the front line forces that as in Vietnam their home coming will be a greeting from an angry mob or just as damaging arriving home from the war in Iraq with no greeting at all. This sends the message to our troops that their efforts are not appreciated or supported resulting in a drop in morale for those that are in theater and those about to deploy. We all know as leaders in the military that high morale is a significant factor in successful combat operations. Whether I like the presence of the media during military operations or not, ultimately the media will be present in one form or another, and as a leader I will need to apply the lessons taught by the Army Command and General Staff College Intermediate Level Education Program to be able to effectively manage the media to bolster the morale of the home front and the front lines which will help me to perform my duties by improving the military image. General Sherman’s ideology was too extreme, and the examples of Vietnam and the war in Iraq are examples of not having enough control over the media. The lesson learned in regards to dealing with the media lies in between the two examples, if you are too staunch in your approach in barring the media from having access or too liberal in allowing them to have free reign both have a damaging affect on the Morale and Strength of our Armed Forces which may mean the difference between winning and losing the next war. Cross, Sarah. "Media Bias in Vietnam." associatedcontent. October 30, 2009. http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/2339556/media_bias_in_vietnam/html'cat=37 (accessed June 6, 2010). Lacey, James. ""Who's Responsible for Losing the Media War in Iraq"'" Naval Institue Proceding/ILE Reading 141B. Naval Institute Proceedings, 2004.