Media/Military Relations in the United States
Abstract
Media/military relations in the United State have been frequently strained. In time of war, especially, communication between the two
institutions often becomes aggravated and adversarial. The basic reason is that the nature and goals of the two institutions virtually
decree a tension. To this, one may add the increasing tendency to formulate U.S. foreign policy with little or no formal debate. The
media rushes to fill a vacuum left by the absence of argument between the Administration and Congress. In this way, the military
complains that the media often drives the mission, forcing deployments to places where the United States has scant national
interests. Like most bureaucracies, the military prefers to do its business behind closed doors, all the more so because the nature of
its business is so often shocking to public sensibilities. It also relies on public support for its missions, and too often sees the media
as a subversive, rather than a positive, element in that process. Although media/military tension may be endemic, the two
institutions need to work together. The nature of democracy itself requires a free press to expose the actions of political and military
leaders to public scrutiny. The press has a responsibility to question the policy/strategy match in military operations. Furthermore,
the process is beneficial for the military, for it allows the two institutions to work in a symbiotic relationship to build support for policy
and to tell the military's story.
Description
Occasional Paper #10
Rights
This publication is a work of the U.S. Government as defined in Title 17, United States Code, Section 101. Copyright protection is not available for this work in the United States.Collections
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