The origins of the control of information in war coverage

The conflict’s coverage, since its inception, has been closely linked to the relationship that both the military and the media have. The freedom they maintained during their first conflicts, although not without problems, though they suffered strict censorship suffered during World War I, and lastly the straitjacket treatment that they have endured during recent wars. The Vietnam War marked a turning point in this relationship, and after the invasion of Grenada, the military would launch new information guidelines, called Department of Defense National Media Pool. The lack of clear guidance of both control and space, has made for a complicated relationship between media and military, so the rules have evolved after every conflict shaping the future of press coverage and thus, war reporting.

Status and security: how Russian media is spinning airstrikes in Syria

Even before the Russian air force launched its first strikes over Syria, there was already a Russian presence on the battleground. These were not the spetsnaz, Kremlin’s special forces, but war correspondents from the leading Russian media outlets. This was as clear a sign as any that the Russia’s priority has shifted from Ukraine, where these reporters spent most of the past 18 months, to Syria.

There is, however, no unanimity on Russia’s latest escalation in Syria. As Russian state TV stations report successes of Russia’s high-precision weapons projecting an image of a high-tech Russian military equal to the US, doubts persist about the latest adventure in the Middle East.

Iz vrazheskago pli︠e︡na : ocherki spasshagosi︠a︡ : istorīi︠a︡ mytarstv russkago zhurnalista v Germanīi /

Mode of access: Internet.

Many celebrities and a few others : a bundle of reminiscences /

A boy's ambitions.--First lessons in journalism.--Midnight oil and beach combing.--A handy man of literature.--A corner of Bohemia.--The lure of the play.--Thomas Bailey Aldrich.--Edgar Fawcett.--Mark Twain and E.C. Stedman.--Some Boston memories.--Henry M. Stanley and Paul du Chaillu.--A royal academician [George H. Boughton] and his friends.--Glimpses of London society.--Charles Reade and Mrs. Oliphant.--James Payn.--Wilkie Collins, Sir Walter Besant and "Ian Maclaren."--Field Marshal Lord Wolseley.--Two famous war correspondents [Archibald Forbes and Sir William Howard Russell]--Lady St. Helier and Thomas Hardy.--"Toby, M.P." and his circle.--The author of "Lorna Doone."--My acquaintance with Mr. Gladstone.

Belsen, Dachau 1945: Newspapers and the first draft of history.

The thesis examines the nature of press coverage in 1945, identifying themes that emerged in British and American newspaper reportage of two Nazi concentration camps, Belsen and Dachau, following liberation and during military trials. It grapples with the links between early reporting and ongoing misunderstandings about the concentration camp system.

Baghdad bureaux : an exploration of the interconnected world of fixers and correspondents at the BBC and CNN

Post-war Iraq is so dangerous that Western television correspondents have been forced to change their modus operandi and rely more heavily on locally-hired fixers. This article asks if the virtual absence of overseas reporters from Iraq’s streets has led to a less authentic news gathering role. Conversely, it may have delivered a more nuanced form of editorial and logistical task-sharing. This research draws on interviews conducted in 2007 and 2008 with twenty foreign correspondents, two senior news managers and five fixers. It employs Bourdieu’s analysis of cultural capital as a framework to examine the exchange of different forms of power and expertise between the players. Where trust is now at the forefront of this news gathering relationship, this research deconstructs the methods by which fixers are recruited and deployed. A comparison is made between the news production techniques of foreign correspondents who employ fixers for short-term purposes and correspondents from the Baghdad bureaux of the BBC and CNN.

Dissenters in dock at injustice of war

Review of 'The Trial of the Catonsville Nine', Brisbane Festival / Brisbane Powerhouse, published in The Australian, 28 September 200.

The language of neofeudal corporatism and the war on Iraq

In this paper we argue that the term “capitalism” is no longer useful for understanding the current system of political economic relations in which we live. Rather, we argue that the system can be more usefully characterised as neofeudal corporatism. Using examples drawn from a 300,000 word corpus of public utterances by three political leaders from the “coalition of the willing”— George W. Bush, Tony Blair, and John Howard—we show some defining characteristics of this relatively new system and how they are manifest in political language about the invasion of Iraq.

Air evacuation in war : the role of RAAF nurses undertaking air evacuation of casualties between 1943-1953

Air transportation of Australian casualties in World War II was initially carried out in air ambulances with an accompanying male medical orderly. By late 1943 with the war effort concentrated in the Pacific, Allied military authorities realised that air transport was needed to move the increasing numbers of casualties over longer distances. The Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) became responsible for air evacuation of Australian casualties and established a formal medical air evacuation system with trained flight teams early in 1944. Specialised Medical Air Evacuation Transport Units (MAETUs) were established whose sole responsibility was undertaking air evacuations of Australian casualties from the forward operational areas back to definitive medical care. Flight teams consisting of a RAAF nursing sister (registered nurse) and a medical orderly carried out the escort duties. These personnel had been specially trained in Australia for their role. Post-WWII, the RAAF Nursing Service was demobilised with a limited number of nurses being retained for the Interim Air Force. Subsequently, those nurses were offered commissions in the Permanent Air Force. Some of the nurses who remained were air evacuation trained and carried out air evacuations both in Australia and as part of the British Commonwealth Occupation Force in Japan. With the outbreak of the Korean War in June 1950, Australia became responsible for the air evacuation of British Commonwealth casualties from Korea to Japan. With a re-organisation of the Australian forces as part of the British Commonwealth forces, RAAF nurses were posted to undertake air evacuation from Korea and back to Australia from Iwakuni, Japan. By 1952, a specialised casualty staging section was established in Seoul and staffed by RAAF nurses from Iwakuni on a rotation basis. The development of the Australian air evacuation system and the role of the flight nurses are not well documented for the period 1943-1953. The aims of this research are three fold and include documenting the origins and development of the air evacuation system from 1943-1953; analysing and documenting the RAAF nurse’s role and exploring whether any influences or lessons remain valid today. A traditional historical methodology of narrative and then analysis was used to inform the flight nurse’s role within the totality of the social system. Evidence was based on primary data sources mainly held in Defence files, the Australian War Memorial or the National Archives of Australia. Interviews with 12 ex-RAAF nurses from both WWII and the Korean War were conducted to provide information where there were gaps in the primary data and to enable exploration of the flight nurses’ role and their contributions in war of the air evacuation of casualties. Finally, this thesis highlights two lessons that remain valid today. The first is that interoperability of air evacuation systems with other nations is a force multiplier when resources are scarce or limited. Second, the pre-flight assessment of patients was essential and ensured that there were no deaths in-flight.