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War Reporting an Ethical Dilemma

Case Study: War Reporting an Ethical Dilemma.

John Steinbeck was an American author in the early 20th century. He is attributed with the quote “All war is a symptom of man’s failure as a thinking animal”(Wikipedia Contributors, 2019).

The quote may indeed be a genuine sentiment.Regardless wars have been fought from earliest recorded history.  From primitive cave paintings depicting the battles between tribes, to today’smodern media convergence, multimedia makes the broadcasting of text, audio and video available to society. We can now sit in comfort of a far-removedcafé scrolling through news on our smart phones enjoying a coffee.

War and its brutal atrocities have been perpetrated onmilitary personnel and innocent civilians with an almost cavalier attitude to civilians. The sanitised term “collateral damage” with the oxymoronic title“humanitarian war.” 

This case study will examine the journalist’s role and the ethical dilemmas of the war correspondent. The public’s right to know against the potential for harm, holding truth to power, the difficulty in unbiased, honest, fair, independent reporting while still respecting the rights of others (Media, Entertainment & Arts Alliance, 1910).

War is propaganda; war is brutal; war is blood andgore.

The following questions raised are not definitive, and many ethical dilemmas are propagated by war.

• Is it possible for war correspondents embedded with the military to be as impartial as an independent reporter?

• Can journalism become mere echo chambers for Government propaganda?

• What role did embedded journalists play in the invasion of Iraq?  

• Can the profession of journalism be complicit in the propaganda of war?

• Was the fundamental role of the Fourth Estate held up, holding truth to power before the invasion of Iraq?   

These questions have many ethical considerations.War is often shrouded in secrecy and propaganda. Journalists can often be viewed as the enemy of governments that take a nation to war. Governments need public support for a war. If the truth were reported, the voting public who put politicians into power could possibly withdraw support. This is a brief look back to the precursor of what might be considered the modern era of the war correspondent.

The American Civil War in the 1800s was a defining moment in the history of journalism. Innovations, including permanent press bureaus, photo-journalism first appeared during the Civil War. Other historical trends, such as media bias, newspaper endorsement of political positions and choosing a side in the conflict, continued throughout the period. (Wandrei, 2019 )

One of the bloodiest and deadliest conflicts in historywas World War One. In which over 16 million people died. The total number of both civilian and military casualties is estimated at around 37 million people. The war killed almost 7 million civilians and 10 million military personnel. (© 2000-2019, Salem Media., 2019)

David Lloyd George was the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom during World War One. Lloyd George in 1916 had a conversation with CP Scott, editor of the Manchester Guardian. He said “If the people really knew [the truth] the war would be stopped tomorrow. But of course, they don’t know and can’t know.” (Greenslade, 2104)

This theatre of war was fought amongst the muddy blood-soaked trenches of France and the dark whispering corridors of government censorship. Some journalists might self-censor and argue that Machiavelli’s ethical theory which states ‘The ends justify the means’ is valid in war if it facilitates an unconditional surrender by the enemy. This canequally be applied to reporting the truth.

September 11, 2001, the United States of America was attacked on home soil. Islamic terrorist operatives from Al-Qaeda flew hijacked commercial airliners into the World Trade Centre, buildings one and two and the bastion of American military might, the Pentagon. The ‘War on Terror’ as President Bush tagged it, had begun.

Bush had an 86 per cent approval rating. The September 11 attacks pierced the heart of patriotic America. The sell by politicians and civil servants would prove easy. Politicians and journalists werefor the most bipartisan in support of the military attacks launched on Afghanistan; the stronghold of Osama Bin Laden the head of Al-Qaeda. Afghanistan is still occupied by allied forces today. Was this a ‘just war’? There was an apparent motive. The ethical theory of John Stuart Mills and the principle of Utility may apply. “Seek the greatest happiness for the greatest number, that a good end must be promoted, bad end must be restrained.” The war continues. Poverty, malnutrition, poor sanitation, lack of access to health care, environmental degradation is all exacerbated by the current war.Over 38,000 civilians have died.

According to journalism historian, Phillip Knightley,the news media have been asked to ‘play their part’to live up to their ‘patriotic duty’ in supporting the government that declares war. For without popular support for warfare, nations would soon run out of resources to keep fighting. (Patching & Hirst, 2014, p. 95)

March 19, 2003, allied forces of the USA, UK and Australia mount an invasion of Iraq. The war had to be sold to and supported by the public. The citizens of USA were rightly cautious after the disaster of the Vietnam war.

Saddam Hussain was the dictator of Iraq. Debates among politicians were forceful and wide-ranging.Did Hussain have weapons of mass destruction(WMD) that posed an existential threat to the west?The potential war needed a justification. The USA, UK and Australia certainly thought there was justification. So, it became known as the ‘coalition of the willing.’ (Patching & Hirst, 2014, p 97)

The case for war was outlined by Secretary of State for the Bush administration, Colin Powell to the United Nations. On February 5, 2003, Powell said of WMD “My colleagues, every statement I make today is backed up by sources, solid sources. These are not assertions. What we’re giving you are facts and conclusions based on solid intelligence.”(Schwarz, 2018)

The sources never existed, the assertions were fabricated, and the facts had no substantial evidence. No weapons of mass destruction were ever found, before, during or after the invasion of Iraq.

The public was cleverly deceived. A year after pretending to search for WMD the ‘coalition of the willing’ admitted there never had been evidence of WMD. The citizens of the world had been lied to, unwittingly or not aided by journalists. (Patching & Hirst, 2014, p 96)

Where were the tough digging, aggressive questions from journalists? The deontological system of ethicsstates, “journalists have an obligation or duty to tell the truth under all circumstances.” (Patching & Hirst, 2014, p 9) The media with its tremendous influence, failed in its duty to inform the public. President Bush, and Prime ministers Blair and Howard took their countries to war on a lie. The public had a right to know the facts. The “Golden Mean” ethical theory by Aristotle states: “Moral virtue is the appropriate location between two extremes”. This ethical consideration is not applicable in a situation of war crimes. There is no moral virtue in the killing of innocent civilians or journalists. Aristotles theory in this instance contravenes the MEAA Journalist Code of Ethics 1: Report and interpret honestly, striving for accuracy, fairness and disclosure of all essential facts. Do not suppress available facts or give distorting emphasis.(Media, Entertainment & Arts Alliance, 1910)

According to the Iraq body count organisation, since the invasion over 200,000 civilians have died due to violence either directly related to the war or as a result of the anarchic aftermath. (Iraq Body Count 2003-2019, 2019) .

Award-winning journalist John Pilger in his documentary “The War You Don't See” (link to Documentary ) http://vimeo.com/67739294 opens with the leaked military video titled “ Collateral Murder ” published by WikiLeaks to YouTube (link to video) https://youtu.be/5rXPrfnU3G0. The video shows an engagement by an Apache gunship opening fire on a street in Baghdad, killing in cold blood two Reuter journalists along with Iraqi civilians in an unprovoked attack. Whistle-blower soldier Bradley Manning was sentenced to 35 years for leaking this video and other national security documents. Wikileaks editor in chief Julian Assange said “Wikileaks organisation gives conscientious objectors within power systems a means of informing the public directly.” (Pilger, 2010 - 2019)

Did Manning and Assange do the job of journalists embedded within the USA military? Did they hold truth to power? Were the embedded correspondentsmerely patriotic echo chambers for the government official line? There is always a grey area around morals and ethics. Manning and Assange acted according to their conscience, a teleologicalprinciple, the altruistic “Greatest good for the greatest number of people” (John Stuart Mill, 1969)and possibly the Judeo-Christian principle “Love your neighbour as yourself.”  

The MEAA Guidance clause: Basic values often need interpretation and sometimes come into conflict. Ethical journalism requires conscientious decision making in context. Only substantial advancement of the public interest or risk of substantial harm to people allows any standard to be overridden. (Media, Entertainment & Arts Alliance, 1910)

Those that overly criticise the actions of whistle-blowers or independent war correspondents, might possibly have a personal stake in keeping such information out of the public arena. If the Iraqi military had targeted and killed allied journalists and civilians in cold blood the western media would cover the “collateral murder” from everycondemning angle. The public has every right to know, that war crimes are committed by all combatants during the insanity of war.

The 4th Geneva Convention of 1949, Article147. The Protection of Civilian persons, states: “wilful killing, torture or inhuman treatment, including biological experiments, wilfully causing great suffering or serious injury to body or health.” is a war crime.(Geneva Convention , 1949)

Journalists do have a role in national security, to not give away military secrets but not at the expense of covering up war crimes. The Iraq war was an unjust war. History clearly records that Iraq was fought for oil, profit and control of natural resources. There was a dereliction of duty by main stream media corporations. They failed to undertake the basic principle of the fourth estate, holding truth to power.Manning and Assange did the job other journalists chose not to do, despite two fellow journalists from Reuters being killed intentionally.

Bush, Blair and Howard political leaders of the time, were never held to account for the invasion of Iraq.  

This was censorship by omission and collusion byjournalists in the free societies of the USA, UK and Australia. An embedded journalist has a restricted point of view of the military, a patriotic bias and not the point of view of civilians.

The Washington Post added a new phrase beneath its online masthead — “Democracy Dies in Darkness.”(Farhi, 2017) The Iraq war killed hundreds of thousands of civilians in darkness, democracy may not be dead, but the Iraq war severely wounded the principle.

Bibliography

© 2000-2019, Salem Media. (2019, April 5). How many peole died in World War One . Retrieved from History on the net : https://www.historyonthenet.com/how-many-people-died-in-ww1

Farhi, P. (2017, Febuary 24). The Washington Post’s new slogan turns out to be an old saying. Retrieved from Washington Post : https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/the-washington-posts-new-slogan-turns-out-to-be-an-old-saying/2017/02/23/cb199cda-fa02-11e6-be05-1a3817ac21a5_story.html?utm_term=.42ec0eadb1a6

Geneva Convention . (1949, August 12). RELATIVE TO THE PROTECTION OF CIVILIAN PERSONS IN TIME OF WAR OF 12 AUGUST 1949. Retrieved from Fouth Geneva Convention : https://www.un.org/en/genocideprevention/documents/atrocity-crimes/Doc.33_GC-IV-EN.pdf

Greenslade, R. (2104, July 28). First world war: how state and press kept truth off the front page . Retrieved from The Guardian: https://www.theguardian.com/media/2014/jul/27/first-world-war-state-press-reporting

Hirst, R. P. (2014). Journalism Ethics argumants and cases for the twenty-first century. new york: Routledge.

Iraq Body Count 2003-2019. (2019, April 5). Iraq Body Count. Retrieved from Iraq Body Count 2003-2019: https://www.iraqbodycount.org/database/

Media, Entertainment & Arts Alliance. (1910, December 10). MEAA Journalists Code of Ethics . Retrieved from Media, Entertainment & Arts Alliance: https://www.meaa.org/meaa-media/code-of-ethics/

Pilger, J. ( 2010 - 2019). The War You Don't See . Retrieved from John Pilger.com: http://johnpilger.com/videos/the-war-you-dont-see

Schwarz, J. (2018, Febuary 6). Lie After Lie: What Colin Powell Knew About Iraq 15 Years Ago and What He Told the U.N. Retrieved from The Intercept_: https://theintercept.com/2018/02/06/lie-after-lie-what-colin-powell-knew-about-iraq-fifteen-years-ago-and-what-he-told-the-un/

Wandrei, K. (2019 , April 5). Journalists of the Civil war in the 1800s. Retrieved from Classroom: https://classroom.synonym.com/journalists-civil-war-1800s-23699.html

Wikipedia Contributors . (2019, march 9). Author:John Ernst Steinbeck . Retrieved from wikipedia : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Steinbeck