Government more likely to limit information to public during wartime
War does not change the government’s ability to prohibit the press from reporting events but the information released to the public may be more limited, said Utah State University journalism professor Michael Sweeney.
In the war against terrorism currently being fought in Afghanistan, we are missing a lot of the detail, Sweeney said. We are receiving the highlights the government wants us to see, he said.
“We are getting summaries after the fact. You get a narrow view of the war and most of it is what the government wants you to see. It is a form of propaganda,” Sweeney said.
Jeffery Smith, a journalism professor at the University of Iowa, said the government often views war as a special emergency and is able to change the rules. But the Founding Fathers did not want politicians and generals deciding what the public should know, he said.
“Journalists have a freedom to publish that they need to use wisely. But the military can keep legitimate secrets,” Smith said.
Since World War II, Sweeney said the government has changed how it handles the press. He said a lot of information was shared with journalists prior to attacks during World War II. Gen. Dwight Eisenhower let journalists know of the Normandy invasion and they did not release it, Sweeney said. On one hand you can count the number of journalists who violated requests to withhold information, he said.
Smith said, “My experience with journalists is they are under limitations driven by operational security. They don’t want to put servicemen at risk. But that doesn’t mean there isn’t tension.”
During Vietnam the messages presented by the government and journalists conflicted, Sweeney said.
Smith said during Vietnam and Watergate he learned the government could not be trusted.
Alan Freitag, a journalism professor at the University of North Carolina-Charlotte and a former press officer in the Pentagon, said during the Granada invasion in the 1980s the press felt the military tried to exclude them.
Following the invasion, a commission was formed to make recommendations and policies to prevent future conflicts, Freitag said. A pool arrangement was formed to permit the press to cover military actions.
During the Gulf War a journalist learned of a major military operation before it occurred, Freitag said. The military asked the journalist to not publish it but Freitag said the journalist decided to submit the story to his editor. A member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the secretary of defense called the editor and asked the information be withheld from the story and the editor complied.
“Once a journalist has information, the military will not censor,” Freitag said.
Sweeney said, “People who censor obviously have something to hide. But the government will decline to give information in the first place.”
Journalists have to see as much as possible, Freitag said.
Sweeney said when information is withheld, he does not know if he should support a war or not.
“I need information to choose to support or not. Without full disclosure of information we don’t know if we want to pursue. We don’t know who to hold accountable,” Sweeney said.
Smith said without disclosing all of the information, the military is able to cover up events.
“In addition to being unconstitutional in most cases, wartime restrictions on the media allow cover-ups, create confusion, and foster distrust. The press needs to function as a watchdog in times of armed conflict and has almost always acted responsibly,” Smith said.
Freitag said once you leave the United States, the Constitution does not apply. Under the authority of another sovereignty, local laws apply, he said.
“You can’t invoke the First Amendment in Islamabad,” Freitag said.