FALL
2007 HONORS COURSES
HONR 248O The Military and the
Media in American History
Thursday, 5:00-7:30 p.m.
Dr. William Hammond, Senior Lecturer in University Honors; Chief, General
Histories Branch, U.S. Army Center of Military History
The free press has always posed problems for armies
in time of war. Soldiers contend that their lives depend upon their
right to withhold information from the enemy. Reporters respond that,
however important the rights of soldiers, they may have to yield before
the need of a free people to scrutinize the deeds of its government.
At times, the conflicts that have emerged between these two opposing
points of view, as in the case of the Vietnam War, have seemed almost
to overshadow the world events that gave them birth. The problem shows
no sign of disappearing, if only because the dangers to free societies
from within and without are such that liberty itself cannot apparently
exist without the presence of both a vigorous military and a largely
unbridled press.
This course will investigate the relationship between
the military and the media by applying the traditional journalistic
questions–who, what, when, where, how, and why–both to the news business
and to the business of making war. Examining the technology of journalism
as it evolved during the 19th and 20th centuries, often hand in hand
with the changing technology of war, participants will ask such questions
as: What is it that journalists do? How has it changed over the years?
How does it relate to what soldiers do? Does it make the military and
the news media implacable enemies? If so, does a community of interests
nevertheless exist between the two that subtly shapes the information
we receive in press reports?
Participants will be exposed to readings from classical
texts, the work of modern researchers in the social sciences, unpublished
government documents, a broad range of examples printed for broadcast
in various media outlets, and guest speakers representing the diverse
points of view under discussion. The course will call upon you to examine
specific instances of controversial news reporting during the last forty
years, to communicate your findings in class discussions, and to write
a research paper on your conclusions. Grades will depend upon the quality
of the papers submitted, class participation, and a final essay examination
designed to distill conclusions and insights.
Readings:
Walter Millis, Arms and Men; Fialka, Hotel Warriors
Phillip Knightley, The First Casualty: From the Crimea to Vietnam, The
War Correspondent as Hero, Propagandist, & Myth Maker
Daniel Hallin, The "Uncensored War": The Media & Vietnam
CORE–Social or Political History [SH]
