[Author’s Name]
[Institution’s Name]
Essay on The First Casualty
Introduction
Despite the evolution of modern communications technology and the emergence of the powerful multinational media groups, the job of the war correspondent remains a difficult one and it is easy to uncover the truth in a zone of war. The stakes can be very high for the combatants and the decisions of the commanders will cost lives, gain or loose strategic advantage and win or loose territory. Wars can ascertain the future destiny of nations as well as peoples and when the stakes are high, truth becomes a casualty of war. The media just cannot match the control and the power which the combatants have in a war zone and the journalists can only report what they are allowed to observe and told. Even with the advanced communications technologies that are available and the sources of information in the form of sympathetic individuals, political organizations and other groups getting the right picture in the war zone is nearly impossible. The journalists can only report what they are told at briefings, what they can observe and if what they are saying is not well liked, they can be asked to leave. Hence, it is not the war correspondents or journalists who have the capability of telling the truth, but the truth is faced with many distortions, manipulations and can become the untruth when relayed to the audience at large (Phillip).
Propaganda is an accepted weapon of war that has been used in every war known to mankind. From Crimea, to Vietnam and on to the recent conflicts of Kosovo and Iraq, propaganda has tainted the truth about the conflicts. When the stakes are as high as they are in a conflict, the combatants deliberately try to cover up or present their versions of the truth, or deliberate lies, to the media journalists who are interested.....
