Andrew Ramocki Throughout history civilians have been unable to understand thehardships that war unleashes. Since ancient times people who have neverseen war looked at it with only glory and honor. That is because many ofthem have never seen the effects of war.
Not until the Civil War was therecommunication between the media, the military, and the rest of the U. S. Forthe first time the media was on the battlefields risking their lives andgetting killed for the sake of the best story in tomorrow’s paper. Journalism is the largest form of communication during war and thecorrespondents risk their lives for some information.
Every conflict has its own rules that govern how the newspaperreporters and film crews will work and broadcast in the country. They arealso told when, where, and whom they can interview. It also depends on whois making the rules. Sometimes government information officers or militarycommanders do but usually they are militias or just men with guns (Parks,7). During the Civil War the media did not have any restrictions on theirmovement, only that they did not receive any information from the militaryabout troop movements.
Newspaper reporters from New York were on thebattlefield and in the midst of war. During the Civil War battle Gettysburg a reporter named Sam Wilkesonprinted his experience from a house near the warzone. “A shell screamedover the house, instantly followed by another, and in a moment the air wasfull of the most complete artillery prelude to an infantry battle that wasever exhibited” (Lewis, 45). He explained how houses thirty feet away fromhim were receiving their death and Union soldiers were torn to pieces inthe road with a cry of pain and horror (Lewis, 46).
Henry Laouchere was a war correspondent in 1870 when the Prussiansinvaded Paris. He reported the Seige in the British embassy. Everydispatch that he sent out was by balloon over Prussian lines and resultedin the Daily News Circulation all over Europe (Lewis, 58). Loren Jenkinsalways believed and preached to her correspondents saying, “No story isworth anyone’s life, but gauging the dangers is hard” (Parks, 2).
When people realized the horrors of war from reading the newspaperspeople would not want to go to war. In the beginning of World War IIRussia was quick to go to war with Finland and it resulted in a horrificwinter in November of 1939 until when Finland fell in March of 1941. Reporters nicknamed a stretch of land Dead Man’s Land where two Russiandivisions were annihilated by machine gun fire and artillery. The area wasjust a wasteland of bodies frozen in positions where they were holding awound or huddled together (Lewis, 242) When War is being published innewspapers such stories not only turn people off to war but many military’slet the newspapers create Heroes from the war so that the politicians willbe reelected when the time comes.
World War I also had many great correspondents risking their livesfor good news. Leon Trotsky was a correspondent during the Balkan wars in1912. He noted that there was hardly any mobilization of forces when themedia from all over the world flocked to the Balkans. They rented HotelRooms, filled cafs, and ministerial waiting rooms. They began to curseministers who declined to be interviewed and military operators who werekeeping secret information from them (Lewis, 130).
One of the best kept secrets of war is the fact that prisoners aretreated with respect and considerate care somewhere in a camp. During thiswar journalists witnessed a group of prisoners being forced to pushwheelbarrow after wheelbarrow of manure. They were not allowed to bephotographed because the NCO would not allow it (Lewis, 132). When askedwhy they could not photograph the prisoners they told them that they werebeing accused of treating the prisoners badly. Instead they told thereporter to come back the next day when they were having their mid-afternoon meal. The Newspapers did however report how the quarters of theprisoners consisted of sacks of straw and sometimes just straw in a largeroom littered with bodies (Lewis, 133).
During England’s battle with the Germans at the Battle of the Sommein July of 1916 an interview occurred with an unknown soldier. He had justsurvived a 150 yard charge across No Man’s Land. “I was just mad at thetime”. Snipers had .
