Legal Aspects of News Gathering in War Essay

Journalism is the only source to obtain information to form a personal opinion about events that are happening in society, but often is fueled by sales and viewership that often presents false reports to drive popular opinions. The opinions that are presented to the unaware subscriber or viewer can be dangerous when a person starts to believe in everything that is being presented to them. The expectation of the news media to present only facts is far from the agenda of media. Whereas, the media needs to be profitable like any other corporation. For instance, the media started the Spanish- American war through false journalism as competition between two rival newspapers. William Randolph Hearst and Joseph Pulitzer were owners of separate New

The Vietnam War was the first war that allowed uncensored media coverage resulting in images and accounts of horrific events that served to shape public opinion of the war like nothing that had been seen before. This portrayal by the media led to a separation between the press and the U.S. government, as much of what was reported defied the intentions of government policy. The media has fell blame by many for the result of the war, as it is widely believed that the war could not have been won under the scrutiny that came from the American people as a result of the media

Press, media, news, and entertainment today are used to both influence, shape and mold our minds. Whether it is politics, fashion, sports, conflicts, or finance the way and how it makes it's way to the people is very important. The perspective and delivery of the news determines if the message will come off as propaganda, gossip, or informative. News can be both a positive and negative weapon given the impact that is has on the minds, views and behavior of the people who are consuming it. The impacts and effects of the news can either unite a group of people or separate them. Although

During the period 1960 and 1964 television in America had become extremely familiar to the public. Not only were they able to now be involved in the Vietnam War, but see it on their TV screens at home for the first time ever. In the 1950’s, only 9% of American homes owned a television, however, this figure rose dramatically to 93% during the time of the war in 1966. With inadequate government controls, The American journalists in Vietnam were now able to record video footage and expose the American government of their lies. The government’s failure in maintaining censorship to the public just like they had managed to do in World War 1 had failed. The media was now able to publish uncensored pictures and videos

The news has been an important source of information for as long as it has been around. News during a time of war is sometimes the only way a family member, friend, or general public have any idea what the soldiers are going through. Having this source of information can help rally support for our troops when they need all the support they can get. As reporters are granted more access to military operations the information they are provided, and have to report on, become a great responsibility and they should make sure to only make public what should be made public. Information is increasingly becoming the most important weapon in any militaries arsenal, so we should be more careful as to how that

When reporting on terrorism, the media function as a double-edged sword. They assure terrorists that their grievances will receive public attention; yet they also can mobilize public opinion against the arbitrary use of violence by stripping terrorism of its "romantic veneer" and exposing its violent underpinnings to public scrutiny.20 ' The proposed general industry guidelines should minimize the harms from publicizing terrorist events while maximizing the speech interests vital to a democratic society (Moffitt, 1998). In previous decades, the journalistic mission was to report the news as it actually happened, with fairness, balance, and integrity; Profit gaining motives associated with journalism have forced much of today's television news to look to the spectacular, the stirring, and the controversial as news stories. It's no longer a race to break the story first or get the facts right. Instead, it's to acquire good ratings in order to get advertisers, so that profits soar. The goals of terrorists are not solely confined to winning the attention of the masses. In addition to that, through the media, they aim to publicize their political causes, inform both friends and foes about the motives for terrorist deeds, and explain their rationale for resorting to violence

Throughout the ages there has always been to some extent some form of journalism. From World War I with the use of radio and poster, to the more recent Iraq war where were we used more outlets including the Internet. Though the means of acquiring this information can sometimes come at a cost. To what extent should journalist go to obtain the needed information to write such articles and to report on events? Some say that journalist may get in the way or they may place themselves at risk of injury or death. However, such reporting can cause people, on which it’s targeting, to sway in a particular direction. It is by this reporting that journalist combined with media can be a strong political tool to gain favor by guiding the information to support their agenda.

The extent of war journalism is still contentiously debated, and mostly due to the same reasons as previously mentioned, i.e. Safety, Security and Strategic disclosure. International journalism has comprehensively dealt with the coverage of war and this is because of the dramatic nature of conflicts. The trend of sensational reporting has been observed to be on rise in the recent past and this practice compromises on the professionalism of journalism. As mentioned already, the main objective of journalists is to impart the true and necessary facts to the media consumers; however, the recent wave of sensationalism and commercialism has diverted professional journalism in a completely new direction. Stories which are considered

The love of propaganda of our days negatively affect news presentation in a way it manipulates and derives new information or selects information in favor of some particular groups.

From a historical perception, Matthias Karmasin, Gabriele Melischek, Josef Seethaler and Romy Wöhlert (2013) believe it is evident that communication has led and still leads to war (ix). From the written and unwritten rituals of mutual respect and disrespect to the definition of legitimate violence and manipulation of the culture of war, mass media has dramatically influenced social, political, and economic societies (Karmasin et al, 2013) In their collection of works submitted by members of the European Communication Research and Education Association (ECREA), Karmasin et al. (2013) follow the thesis that there is a duality between the changes in warfare and the possibilities of communicating events (ix). The book is broken into three parts: the first focuses on propaganda and acceptance of war; part two explores the changing relationship between politics, media, and the public sphere; and the last portion of the book covers the ‘postmodern’ war and modern journalism. However, the book begins with an overview of war, the media and the public sphere.

Modern media coverage - the main means of mass communication - gives us news from around the globe, allowing us to develop an informed understanding of the world and its issues. Armed Conflict and tension between the world’s countries has only become more vehement, which has lead to an onslaught of media coverage, orchestrated by countries on either side of the conflicts, as well as countries that are regarded as outsiders. Information about these conflicts can be propagated by a myriad of different sources, which often besmirch its reliability by having a subjective stance. The biased viewpoints of this type of coverage can influence

Although the press had quite a bit of freedom in Vitnam, they still had agreements with the government having to do with battle coverage and positions. Such as not reporting battle information until after it had began, and most reporters repespected this practice. However, it was not mandatory; there were no contracts just an unspoken agreement. It was after the Tet Offensive, the operation that revealed that the United States was not winning the war, that the military began to severally limit the press in Vietnem. Increasing during Vietnam, the commreadery between repoers and the soldiers that were a hallmark during World War II and Korea was chipped away. Commanding officiers thought that reportser were trying to make them look like the bad guys and reporters assumed everything they were td was a lie.

In today¡¦s society journalism is under close scrutiny and is losing its credibility. Sensationalism effects both those who receive it in addition to those who report it. This essay will review the history of sensationalism in the media, clearly demonstrate how sensationalism effects ours views on journalism, and confront the ethical dilemmas that journalists must face between reporting objectively and reporting what sells. This will be accomplished by investigating various sources, including articles published on the Internet as well as those published in newspapers and magazines.

Zee Telefilms (IA 8185/2003 in Suit No. 1543/2003 dated 24.1.2005) aptly describe the state of affairs of today’s media. He says that journalism and ethics stand apart. While journalists are distinctive facilitators for the democratic process to function without hindrance the media has to follow the virtues of ‘accuracy, honesty, truth, objectivity, fairness, balanced reporting, respect or autonomy of ordinary people’. These are all part of the democratic process. But practical considerations, namely, pursuit of successful career, promotion to be obtained, compulsion of meeting deadlines and satisfying Media Managers by meeting growth targets, are recognized as factors for the ‘temptation to print trivial stories salaciously presented’. In the temptation to sell stories, what is presented is what ‘public is interested in’ rather than ‘what is in public interest’.

“When war begins, Public almost always favor our boys” was the idea of military commanders during US’s Gulf War who learnt the fact that ideas through media, if controlled and contained, will serve the propagation of their ideology. It, consequently, distressed media laws and violated