Lights, Camera, Action: The Operational Commander and the Media.

摘要

This study examines the relationship of the operational commander with the media in the context of theater operations. Throughout U.S. history, our armies have been accompanied by press representatives, war correspondents, and recently, TV reporters and cameramen. What has been the effect on operations conducted by American military commanders in the presence of these institutional representatives of the free press. Have they betrayed operational security. Were they willing agents of deception. How was their access to the battlefield controlled. Could they soberly analyze the conduct of the campaign. Did they contribute to the support of military adventures by building or upholding morale on the home front. This study examines the conduct of the free press in American military operations from the Civil War to the present to evaluate the performance of the war correspondent. Lessons are drawn which relate to the distinctive relationship that must be developed between the American operational commander and the free press. Historical evidence suggests that not censorship but greater openness and candid revelations about the conduct of operations have been most successful in fostering the goals of each institutional actor. The commander wants to achieve his strategic goal and correspondents want the information that determines that goal to be as accurate as possible. Each actor needs to operate with a clear understanding of the other. (edc)