The Military News Media Relationship

Over the course of the next six months, the Strategic Studies Institute will examine the impact of the media's technological advances on strategic and operational level planning and policymaking, first in an overseas theater, and subsequently on decisions made at the national level. The first of these two studies recognizes the complexity of executing military operations under the scrutiny of a very responsive, high technology world news media. Given the volatile, unstable, and ambiguous environment in which armed forces can find themselves, the actions of field forces have a greater chance than ever before of affecting subsequent strategic decisions made at higher levels. The pressure on field commanders to "get it right the first time" is demonstrably greater than ever. The author intends that these thoughts provide commanders with an understanding of the high technology and competitive news media environment they can expect to experience and offers specific suggestions for successfully communicating with reporters.

One of the realities of modern military operations has been that they are often subjected to intense scrutiny by the international news media. Under most circumstances, the deployment of U.S. forces attracts large numbers of print and broadcast journalists dedicated to providing their audiences with near real-time information of varying accuracy and completeness. This extraordinary availability of information may well affect the agenda of the executive and legislative branches of government and have important impacts on military decision makers in operational theaters.

The image of public relations, and particularly government public relations, is often linked to thoughts of press agentry and propaganda (Brown, 1976; Cutlip, 1995; Cutlip, Center, & Broom, 2000; Lesly, 1988), and journalists seem to agree with this association (Ryan & Martinson, 1985; Stegall & Sanders, 1986). As a result, a "media-public relations struggle' (Cutlip, 1976, p. 6) ensues, despite the reliance each has upon the other to do their jobs effectively (Bishop, 1988; Brown, 1976; Cutlip, 1976; Gieber & Johnson, 1961; Shea & Gulick, 1997; Sietel, 1992). This mutually-dependent relationship is especially important to the Department of Defense (Baroody, 1999, Braestrup, 1991), which considers the news media "the principal means of communicating information about the military to the general public" (Joint Pub 3-61, p. vi) and measures the effectiveness of the military public affairs program upon its ability to communicate with various publics to maintain awareness and support of the Defense Department (Public Affairs Handbook, 1991). Each of the branches of the armed forces - the Air Force, Army, Navy, and Marine Corps - has a distinct public affairs structure, including how they designate public affairs officers (Public Affairs Handbook, 1991). With the exception of the Marine Corps, which follows Navy guidelines, each branch also has their own set of regulations and policies.

The study examines the status of military-media relations in the aftermath of the Gulf War. Based on public relations theory, studies on source-journalist relationships, the historical precedence of wartime military-media relations, studies about military public affairs, and critiques of the Gulf War situation, the author assesses the Gulf War media policy, the post-Gulf War revised DoD policy, and their impact on present relations. The perspectives of media representatives, military representatives, and communication scholars about Gulf War and present military-media relations were gathered through interviews. Findings of each study group were analyzed and compared. Findings of previous studies on the subject are also discussed. The researcher concludes, while some provisions of the Gulf War policy did not facilitate open media coverage, problems in the policy's execution created more tension between the military and the media. Hostility towards the media also remained from the Vietnam era. Military commanders' support is also a prerequisite for media access to units. Military education programs to foster a better appreciation of a free press' role free in a democracy are needed for all members. In addition, the author recommends additional public affairs training, including a mentoring program, be instituted. Also, while the military should continue to provide opportunities for reporters to participate in training exercises to learn about the military, it is unrealistic to expect that most reporters can participate due to shrinking resources at news organizations. Finally, military and media representatives continue a dialogue to regularly discuss issues of mutual concern.

This paper initially reviews the evolving relationship between the military and the media from the Vietnam War to the present. Following this analysis, the paper analyzes the future media environment and its impact on the theater commander and military operations. Many times there has been conflict between the two groups because of their differing missions. The media's goal is to keep the public informed in a timely manner and to remain competitive with respect to the other media organizations. The military wants to maintain operational security for the success of the mission and the safety of the troops. Despite these conflicts in the past, the U.S. military needs to work closely and plan carefully for media involvement in any future contingency. There are two reasons for this. First, the media's power is increasing rapidly because of technological advances and they will be present in any future conflict or operation. This presence will have a great impact on the commander and their planners in future operations. Likewise, the media presence will rapidly shape American and allied public opinion of the conflict with their real time reporting. Second, the end of the "cold war" brought the rationale for a large standing military force into question. The U.S. military needs the media to tell the military story to retain public support.

A noticeable civil-military gap has emerged in Amen can society where the public does not fully understand the mission of the military, and the military does not understand the expectations and demands of the public in a liberal democracy. Basically, maintaining a good rapport with the media is vital to bridge this civil-military gap.' Military cooperation with the media by allowing appropriate access enables journalists to communicate with the military base of support in the public, and thus may prove vital to effective military operations. As a result, the public will be better prepared to embrace good news' stories that are introduced by the military and prepared also to accept the times when a negative story breaks in the news, From an online survey administered to the unrestricted line (URL) community of Navy officers, this research identifies instances of Navy officer bias that is derived from family background, limited interaction and experience in working with the media, and inherently from bias that is subordinated from senior naval leadership. Based on these findings, the author believes that the U.S. Navy may not continue to mold individuals to think in new and innovative ways for future naval missions unless they are given a much more broader and thorough roadmap of critical thinking and analytical skills; which invariably includes the consideration of military-media relationships when planning and executing military operations.

Wars are now mediated in unprecedented ways and through a variety of communicative forms. Correspondingly, there is an increasing awareness among those involved in war of the need to gauge and manage what is communicated. Communicating War: Media, Memory and Military contextualises these developments by locating the emergence of recent wars and terrorist activity in a wider frame of global socio-political change, highlighting the social, political and historical aspects of 'communicating war'. This includes: . the remembering and forgetting of wars through cultures of collective memory and media selectivity; . the organization, practice and culture of media institutions in the mediation of war information; . and the strategic use of information by military institutions and terrorist organizations in the execution of war and terrorist acts. Remaining sensitive to the complexities of conflict, the book moves beyond a focus on UK and US interventions and reflects upon the communication of war in relation to all forms of conflict, particularly terrorism and under reported civil conflicts. Adopting a multi-disciplinary approach, Communicating War: Memory, Media, Military will be of interest to students in journalism, media, war and peace studies, international relations and international politics. Contributors include practitioners from within the journalistic and military communities and international scholars from a broad range of social sciences: Stuart Allan, David Altheide, Chris Atton, Oliver Boyd-Barrett, Nico Carpentier, Neal Curtis, Richard Keeble, Andrew Hoskins, Makram Khoury-Machool, Sarah Maltby, Donald Matheson, Lara Pawson, Ron Schleifer, Martin Shaw, Angus Taverner, John Tulloch, Howard Tumber and Jeremy Tunstall. - REVIEWERS COMMENTS - "Few topics of media research affect us more personally, and emotionally, than how media represents war, and the military's partly hidden role in that process. Communicating War is a wide-ranging and important contribution to that debate, which also has the advantage of being right up-todate. Essential reading " Nick Couldry, Professor of Media and Communications, Goldsmiths University of London "We live in an age where the relationship between war and communications media is more complex and more urgent than ever before. Communicating War is, therefore, to be welcomed. Its rich collection sets the agenda, as does the War and Media Network, from which it emerges. Crucially, the collection reminds us of that which is 'forgotten', which can be as important in the war-media relationship today as those things embedded in memory." James Gow, Professor of International Peace and Security, Kings College London "A timely and hugely valuable contribution to the scholarly literature on news about conflict and war. The range of contributors, and the variety of themes covered, make this collection essential reading for students and researchers of conflict reporting in the post-9/11 world." Brian McNair, Professor of Journalism and Communication, University of Strathclyde. "Communicating War is a timely collection of great diversity, bringing both historical depth and theoretical sophistication to a range of urgent contemporary debates about the media's role in war." Philip Hammond, Reader in Media and Communications, London South Bank University