The war correspondent - Greg McLaughlin

Based on original research and interviews with a range of journalists, this book looks at the changing nature of war reporting. Technology is rapidly transforming the very way in which journalists report from wars. We have witnessed a change in the gender profile of war correspondents as more and more women enter the field -Christiane Amanpour (CNN), Kate Adie (BBC) and Maggie O'Kane (The Guardian). Increasingly, the profession is being defined by a "star system" with a hierarchy of status, pay and profile. How do all these shifts affect the way wars are reported?;The book analyzes the salient issues surrounding war corresponding. It examines the cultural role of the war reporter, the use of propaganda, the relationship between the military and the media, and the notion of "worthy" and "unworthy" wars. It compares and contrasts the coverage of the Vietnam War, and looks at how war correspondents are portrayed in actual accounts and in fictional representations. It considers how the ideals of journalism - objectivity, news values, journalist-source relationship - work in tension with the demands of the job - media competition, military censorship, political propaganda.