The First Casualty: The War Correspondent as Hero and Myth-Maker from the Crimea to Iraq"The first casualty when war comes, is truth," said American Senator Hiram Johnson in 1917. 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 the Times of 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. Since Vietnam, Knightley reveals, governments have become much more adept at managing the media, as highlighted in chapters on the Falklands War, the Gulf War, and the conflict between NATO and Serbia over Kosovo. And in a new chapter on the post-9/11 wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, Knightley details even greater degrees of government manipulation and media complicity, as evidenced by the "embedding" of reporters in military units and the uncritical, openly patriotic coverage of these conflicts. "The age of the war correspondent as hero," he concludes, "appears to be over." Fully updated, The First Casualty remains required reading for anyone concerned about freedom of the press, journalistic responsibility, and the nature of modern warfare. |
Contents
The Miserable Parent of a Luckless Tribe 18541856 | 1 |
The First Challenge 18611865 | 19 |
The Golden Age 18651914 | 43 |
Quite Another Game 18991902 | 67 |
The Last War 19141918 | 83 |
Enter America 19171918 | 121 |
The Remedy for Bolshevism is Bullets 19171919 | 147 |
The Real Scoop 19351936 | 185 |
Korea The United NationsWar 19501953 | 365 |
Algeria is French 19541962 | 391 |
Vietnam 19541975 | 409 |
War is Fun 19541975 | 441 |
Britannia Rules the News 19751989 | 469 |
The Deadly Video Game 19901991 | 483 |
The Militarys Final Victory MarchJune 1999 | 501 |
No More Heroes MarchApril 2003 | 527 |
Other editions - View all
The First Casualty: The War Correspondent as Hero and Myth-Maker from the ... Phillip Knightley No preview available - 2004 |
The First Casualty: The War Correspondent as Hero, Propagandist and Myth ... Phillip Knightley No preview available - 2003 |