Beyond the Front Lines: How the News Media Cover a World Shaped by War [Hardcover]

Philip Seib (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 14, 2004

The recent war with Iraq has had the greatest impact on journalism since the Vietnam War. Before the next war arrives, how the news media cover conflict -- and international affairs more generally -- should be scrutinized. The questions explored in this book include:

* Were embedded journalists' reports from Iraq overused and was context sacrificed in favor of drama?
* Is the relationship between news organizations and the Pentagon too cozy?
* Has Al-Jazeera's impact been underestimated?
* Is the Internet superseding other media?
* Has public diplomacy become mired in clumsy propaganda?
* Do policy makers understand how news coverage affects global politics?

Beyond the Front Lines examines news coverage of modern war, with particular emphasis on the performance of journalists during the 2003 U.S.-Iraq war. It also analyzes the relationship between news coverage and American foreign policy, as well as how globalization is reshaping the news business. Philip Seib also describes the changing technologies and ethics of modern warfare, suggests ways journalists might carry out their job better, and offers a new perspective on the role of the news media in a high-tech, globalized, and dangerous world.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

This thoughtful study examines the fraught relationship of the news media to warfare through the lens of the war in Iraq. Journalism professor Seib notes many revolutionary aspects of the conflict’s coverage, including the rise of Arab news organizations, such as Al Jazeera, that challenge Western viewpoints, the growing importance of Internet news circulation and the advent of cheap, portable satellite technology that permits real-time reporting straight from the front. Given the insatiable demand of cable networks and Web sites for news, journalists covering Iraq faced greater pressure than ever before to sacrifice accuracy and depth for speed. At the same time, Seib writes, the overall tone of "cheerleading" and "boosterism" in American coverage of the war raised the perennial conundrum of whether the media’s primary role is to bolster support for the troops or maintain an independent, critical stance that will stimulate public debate. Seib explores these issues through a combination of academic theory and a close reading of the coverage from the war. Particularly acute is his analysis of the embedding of journalists with military units, a system he says yielded vivid but limited close-ups of the fighting that risked missing the forest for the trees. Seib worries that as the American media’s capacity to capture the action grows, its commitment to in-depth international news reporting has waned, leaving the public without the political and historical context it needs to understand wars waged in its name.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

Seib, a journalism professor, critiques the current state of media coverage of war and the implications for U.S. democracy and international relations. The myth that the news coverage of the Vietnam War was a major reason for the U.S. defeat haunts both the U.S. military and the media, profoundly affecting how both institutions deal with war and war coverage. Seib describes changes in military policy on war coverage since Vietnam, from locking out media to media pools to embedding. He also explores how changing dynamics in technology and geopolitics are affecting news gathering. Seib includes interviews with a variety of journalists discussing how the 9/11 terrorist attacks, consolidation in news organizations, the growth of non-Western news organizations, and the Internet have influenced news coverage of the war in Iraq. Seib raises thoughtful concerns about the balance among national security, patriotism, and press freedoms in a democracy at a time of war and offers suggestions for achieving that balance. This will have wide appeal to journalists and readers interested in press and government policy issues. Vanessa Bush
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 208 pages
• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan; 1st edition (May 14, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1403965471
• ISBN-13: 978-1403965479
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 6.5 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.4 ounces
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,444,954 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)