Witness to War -- Episode Six

"If you let most commanders decide what should be

released to the public, the nightly news would be limited

to reruns of Kate Smith singing 'God Bless America'."

- Drew Middleton, New York Times

EPISODE SIX:

The Media Managers

The Falklands, Grenada and the Gulf 

             Margaret Thatcher learned from the American experience with the media in Vietnam.  

            In 1982, she made the British Navy adopt rules that denied access to neutral correspondents wanting to cover the battle to regain the Falkland Islands. 

            As President Reagan and the Pentagon looked on with admiration, Thatcher allowed only British reporters known to identify with the British cause to accompany the fleet.

            With little notice, the U.S. military took its cue from Thatcher and devised a similar system, so that when the Grenada invasion occurred in 1983, the American press was taken by surprise.

            Grenada marked a clear shift in the U.S. military's relationship with the press.  The majors and generals who felt they had been burned by the media in Vietnam were now in charge of controlling their hostile adversary. 

            The press protested, but the controls worked.  By the time George Bush launched the invasion of Panama in 1989, the Pentagon's media noose was effective and complete.

            Again, the press cried foul, but took what it was given and delivered what the administration wanted: nice, clean, sanitized images of war accompanied by handsome officers in combat gear to explain.

            Panama looked like an Army recruiting film, but the Persian Gulf War was the conflict that the military needed to shake off the Vietnam hangover.

            This time, commanders were determined not to let reporters run rampant in Kuwait and Iraq.  But they could do nothing about a CNN crew in Baghdad.

            As the cruise missiles augured into the city's center and smart bombs brought down bridges and buckled highways, President Bush, Sadam Hussein and the brass held their breath and watched Peter Arnett.  What would the press say?  How would the American public react? 

            Concerns evaporated when the daily press briefings became love-ins with the affable commander, Gen. Norman Schwarzkopf.  The American public loved it: video from the gun cameras of the planes, a smart bombing blowing out of the four walls of a Baghdad communications building and Patriot missiles knocking down SCUD missiles.

            When the War came to a halt after only 100 hours, America celebrated.  Almost every city held a parade for its returning soldiers. 

            It appeared that the military and the media had performed as a team.  But many journalists criticized the Pentagon's control of access to the troops.  They felt that relying solely on the daily showcase of favorable gun-camera films instead of their own first-hand observations affected their ability to adequately cover the war. 

            They vowed never to be shut out again.