Media Accompanying the Military to Battle

Media With the Military in Battle

Government

There must be a cost-benefit analysis performed before formally agreeing to attach reporters to military units during active engagements. There are pros and cons for the side of the press and on the side of the military. It has become practice or tradition since the Vietnam War for journalists to be permitted to accompany and document the activities of various military units. Therefore, there is a fairly substantial precedent set for this form of cooperation. When considering this situation, imagining the outcome can assist in adequately preparing both sides for the accompaniment.

The military units that would have journalists should be provided as much notice as possible. This would give the commanding officers a chance to prepare assignments that would both satisfy the journalists and provide a respectable amount of operational secrecy. The journalists should receive some kind of basic military training and debriefing regarding the conditions into which they will enter with the military. Awareness is critical during battle situations. If the journalists have some kind of idea as to how military operations work, what kind of conditions the units live in, and what some of the more common situations they will be in before departure, this will help very much. The journalists will not seem so ignorant about the battle and the military. This will increase their chances of not causing accidental harm and of not accidently getting into harm's way. Socially, preparation of this cooperation will be beneficial for both sides. Active battle situations are tense enough without additional tensions between distinct groups of military members and groups of journalists. Knowledge and empathy can go a long way toward cooperation. This is not to say that the aim is for the military and the media to be friends necessarily, but they need to get along well enough that lives are not unnecessarily threatened and sacrificed.

Pros for the military include increased knowledge and respect. Media coverage of a battle pulls back the curtain for the average citizen watching the broadcast. When viewers see the kind of danger the soldiers are in and how they handle those situations, the viewers may have a greater appreciation for veterans and the active military. The coverage could additionally indirectly serve as recruiting material. Some viewers are bound to admire the battle coverage and admire the people who make successful missions and strikes happen. This may motivate or influence some viewers to join the military or support the decision of a family member, friend, colleague, etc., to join the military and provide service for his/her country. Certainly there will be some viewers who will object to the imagery and the operations. They may be motivated to speak out against the military and military actions. They may furthermore take action such as grassroots organizing and social activism. This is the same risk that the military has faced since the days of the Vietnam broadcasts. Though there is no absolute control over every broadcast, the military reserves the right to exert editorial power to preserve operational secrecy and to maintain the public image of the military.