Fighting a Televised War: Operational Command Relations With the Media During Conflict

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to explore the relations between the military operational commander and the media during conflict situations. The issues addressed are: to what extent can and should the warfighting CINCs and/or Joint Task Force commanders consider incorporation of the media into their war plans, and how should these plans be tailored in view of the numerous conflicting and confusing requirements encountered by field commanders during war. It is the thesis of this paper that military commanders must account for the full integration of the media into coverage of military operations and need to rethink operational plans and planning procedures to improve relations with all forms of the media in any future conflict scenario. The U.S. military is currently not properly organized, trained and equipped to deal with a thoroughly intrusive media during combat and several recommendations are provided to improve this condition.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Jun 17, 1994
Accession Number
ADA283512

Entities

People

  • Roy H. Harkins

Organizations

  • Naval War College

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Biomedical
  • Human Systems
  • Space
  • Weapons Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Battlefields
  • Combat Areas
  • Combat Operations
  • Department Of Defense
  • Guidance
  • Lessons Learned
  • Military Commanders
  • Military Operations
  • National Security
  • Public Opinion
  • Public Relations
  • Remote Areas
  • Security
  • Task Forces
  • Transportation
  • War Colleges
  • Warfare

Readers

  • Agent-Based Social Robotics and Mobile-Assisted Learning in Virtual Environments.
  • Joint Military Operations and Doctrine.
  • Military History of the United States in the 20th Century.