Media in the Providing Wartime Coverage - Essay Example

Journalistic work constantly involves difficult options, but wartime reporting raises the level of intensity, consequently forcing reporters to face myriad issues including separating objectivity from propaganda; uncertainty from prejudice, and the need to convey the impact of conflict, particularly on civilians, without displaying images of death and suffering, which are insults to human dignity (Shaw, 1996).

The issue of selectivity usually poses the biggest challenge in that some issues and situations attract undivided coverage, while others of seemingly equal importance fail to achieve matched attention. The problem of hate media is another outstanding outcome of reporting during wartime. A good example in real-time is found in Rwanda, Bosnia, and Herzegovina, where the world witnessed genocide and crimes against humanity, triggered, in part, by nationalistic and ethnocentric hate campaign, propagated through the mass media.

In the same vein, many media outlets in d'Ivoire and South Africa have in recent times used xenophobic messages through political manipulation, unsubstantiated claims, and incitement to violence against individuals and groups, especially of specific foreign origin, all emphasizing how the misuse of information can have deadly consequences (Shaw, 1996). Finally, the media can do more than anything in wartime to help the world learn not only how war is conducted, but also how it is affecting people.

During this period, reporters can give voice to those who would otherwise remain unheard and also tell stories that otherwise would remain untold. Through this way, therefore, reporters can create conduits between those trapped in a conflict zone and those outside it. Moreover, in times of conflicts and war, the presence of reporters can help prevent atrocities. This is simply because the reporters can effectively sense a conflict ahead and alert the world to the need for preventive measures to avoid tragedy (Shaw, 1996).

The Supreme Court also makes it clear that it is the duty of the governors to be accountable to the governed and to tell the public of violations of the public trust. If the government must lie to the public in an effort to prevent the disclosure of any classified information, so be it. This is best exemplified by the use of American media to cover up the truth of the September 11 attacks.