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Assess key differences in how conflict imagery is presented across traditional (print, broadcast) and digital (social media, online news) platforms.
→ WW2 - Print Era - combined press and gov narrative - supporting war
→ Vietnam - TV Era - diff press and gov narrative - anti war
→ Iraq - Tabloid Era - diff press and gov narrative - anti gov
→ Ukraine & Palestine - Digital Era - diff press, gov, social media narrative - mixed
→ Highlight differences in press, gov, and new forms (social media)
→ Digital media circulation has made it easier to share and spread media
→ Digital media circulation has made it easier to share and spread narratives
Word Count
1000
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although there was video, that served a similar purpose as photography – it was still curated and considered – it wasn’t video in the raw sense we consider vietnam in.
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Context
WW2 - brave and heroic - designed to boost moral - heavily censored and curated. heroic and devastating - people were heroic, but the landscape was devastated. Shows neg impact from a distance. Dead soldiers rarely shown. Shown through images in papers, limited video in cinemas (tv was limited and shutdown) → easy to control → Government and Media as one.
Narrative and Reaction
WW2 required countries to supply themselves, work was focussed on the war effort → civilians felt more connected to the war → imagery was focussed on rallying towards the cause → heroic soldiers made them feel their work effort was for a good purpose & should they fail to help enough that their world would be devastated.
Context
TV had changed what was visible → First TV war → more uncensored and raw footage showed the true horrors → immediacy of what they saw → shown deaths of soldiers and natives → Government and Media as seperate narratives → gov tried to reason war, causing more anger →
Narrative and Reaction
extensive coverage of civilian suffering → through drafting young soldiers were viewed as victims → making people feel anger for death of their own, and guilt for the death of innocents → public outrage and protest → changes to censorship of media through tv and documentation of war
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More than ever before, television showed the terrible human suffering and sacrifice of war. Whatever the intention behind such relentless and literal reporting of the war, the result was a serious demoralization of the home front, raising the question whether America would ever again be able to fight an enemy abroad with unity and strength of purpose at home. - Nixon
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Context
Tabloid era (tactics of digital in traditional format) → attacking whoever they could (gov) → Government narrative being attacked by the media → hutton inquiry → beginning of misinformation → instant doubt surrounding war
24 hr news → live tv → witnessing not spectating → journalists travelling with troops.
Early interenet → liveleak etc making available the most uncesored parts of the conflict
Narrative and Reaction
Media documented the actions of the troops → soldiers portrayed as the villians → western interferance → mass outrage and protest on a scale not seen before