The First Casualty: The War Correspondent as Hero and Myth-Maker from the Crimea to Kosovo [Paperback]

Mr. Phillip Knightley (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 080186951X | ISBN-13: 978-0801869518 | Publication Date: April 24, 2002

"The most comprehensive j'accuse of journalism as propaganda in the English language... Ought to be read by every young reporter and by those who retain pride in our craft of truth-telling, not matter how unpopular or unpalatable the truth." -- John Pilger, from the Preface to the new edition

"The first casualty when war comes, is truth," said American Senator Hiram Johnson in 1917, and in his gripping, now-classic history of war journalism, Phillip Knightley shows just how right Johnson was. From William Howard Russell, who described the appalling conditions of the Crimean War in Times [London], to the ranks of reporters, photographers, and cameramen who captured the realities of war in Vietnam, The First Casualty tells a fascinating story of heroism and collusion, censorship and suppression, myth-making and propaganda. Since Vietnam, Knightley finds, governments have become much more adept at managing the media, and in new chapters on the Falklands, the Gulf War, and the former Yugoslavia, he concludes that the war correspondent's role as a seeker of truth is now in jeopardy.

From reviews of the first edition:

"[This book] may make us all a little more free to talk about and find the truth." -- Garry Wills, New York Times Book Review

"Disturbing, even dismaying, yet also in its painful way, enormously entertaining." -- New Yorker

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Few books have deserved an updated edition more than Phillip Knightley's history of war reporting since the 1850s... Invaluable for anyone with an interest in the media, it is equally recommended as a modern history of government lies." -- Times Literary Supplement

"A durable and unblinking chronicle of the role of correspondents in covering, analyzing, and sometimes promoting war... Knightley has added post-Vietnam chapters dealing with Britain's Falkland Islands conflict, the American invasions of Grenada and Panama, the Persian Gulf War, and NATO's Kosovo bombing campaign. There is no chapter on the 2001-2002 fighting in Afghanistan, but its character is unerringly foreshadowed in the ever more stringent policies enforced by Britain and the United States to exclude, control, and coerce correspondents." -- James Boylan, Columbia Journalism Review

"This is fascinating history, with all the personalities and complexity of real life... The main modern story, aside from a few cases of decent reporting in Vietnam, is increasing government efforts, most successful, to manage war coverage. Keep that in mind as the Iraq story unfolds." -- Alan W. Bock, Orange County Register

Review

"In war, truth may be the first casualty, but in Phillip Knightley's compelling examination of the war correspondent as journalist-mouthpiece-propagandist, the truth survives unscathed. Myths are exploded, scoundrels unmasked, the best and worst of the history of a century plainly revealed." -- Morley Safer

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 592 pages
• Publisher: The Johns Hopkins University Press (April 24, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 080186951X
• ISBN-13: 978-0801869518
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.3 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,026,117 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

22 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Best Book on the History of Military-Media Relations, October 7, 2002

By 

Col. Barry Johnson "Bear" (Potlatch, Idaho) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The First Casualty: The War Correspondent as Hero and Myth-Maker from the Crimea to Kosovo (Paperback)

As a military officer who works routinely with the media, this book is my number-one choice for anybody who wants to understand how the relationship between media and the military became what it is today. This book simply tells a great story. Whether your interest is in media, the military or history, I think you'll have a hard time putting it down. And while I don't subscribe to Mr. Knighley's conclusion that the military scored a final victory in managing the media during Kosovo in 1999, the relationship is much more complex than most people realize and will continue to develop during the conflicts that are being played out today and in the future. The bottom line is that if you're interested enough in this subject to have gotten to the end of this review, you ought to buy the book. You won't regret it.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Review of the First Casualty, by Nathan Reid, June 15, 2003

By 

Nathan Reid (Philadelphia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The First Casualty: The War Correspondent as Hero and Myth-Maker from the Crimea to Kosovo (Paperback)

The First Casualty by Phillip Knightly looks at the history of War Correspondents, and analyzes their attempts to accurately report what actually happens on the front line. It covers a broad period of time, from the mid 1800's to the 1970's, in which the author analyzes just about every major war in the time span.

One of the most interesting aspects of the book is that it shows the inability of the majority of the correspondents to report accurately on the wars that have taken place throughout history. For various reasons, which are all explained in the book, most of what the average person read about a particular war during the time that it was going on, turned out to be some sort of propaganda or just completely false.

Phillip Knightly examines the role that technology has played in changing the role of the war correspondent. He looks at some of the most famous correspondents and explains what they did to get to the top. He also shows what the real priorities were for some of the correspondents and their editors.

This book also gives a very interesting perspective on many of the most famous wars, and has a lot of inside information that isn't available in your average textbook. This book will make anybody think twice about what they read in the paper, and I highly recommend it for anyone who is interested in finding out the real uncensored truth about history.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Buy this book, June 14, 2003

By 

J. Falls (Portsmouth, VA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The First Casualty: The War Correspondent as Hero and Myth-Maker from the Crimea to Kosovo (Paperback)

If you are into the world of journalism in even the smallest capacity, this book is for you. If you are interested in how journalists cover major world events like wars, this book should already be on your bookshelf.

Knightley keeps a thorough record of how the wartime correspondent got its first start and doesn't let up through all of the major English and American wars including the Gulf War. Knightley himself is an accomplished journalist in his own right, but that doesn't stop him from taking a critical look at the industry - how it has succeeded but more interestingly where it has failed and continues to fail.

As a high school journalism teacher, this book will become required reading to understand how this type of reporting came about. It will help the students and you take a more critical look at how journalists are covering the war.