United States Military Study of the Fourth Estate
Abstract
Military officers generally and specifically those officer engaged in planning and executing operations do not study and understand the Fourth Estate with a consistency that ensures institution-wide understanding. Clausewitz Holy Trinity, provides a framework that suggents the importance of the media inside this relationship. The existence of the press inside the trinity is fact - they are the primary conduit for communication between the Trinity elements. This thesis examines the current joint and service doctrine and training to establish a baseline. While there are high points throughout the department, there is an inconsistent approach. The results of this study are a qualitative view of the Department of Defense's policy and training for military officers regarding the press and the procedures to interact with them. The Department of Defense is on solid footing and positioned to make a logical 'next' step to create a consistent policy and training regarding the interaction with the press. Simply taking lessons from some of the existing high points (such as the U.S. Army's Command and General Staff College initiative that places military officers in graduate classes with journalism students) across the services and joint doctrine and education and reapplying them uniformly would pay solid dividends towards improving the military interaction with the Fourth Estate.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Apr 04, 2008
- Accession Number
- ADA487161
Entities
People
- Sidney S. Mcgraw
Organizations
- National Defense University