War Reporters Debate Gulf-War Press Standards Were Journalists Too Passive, Too Cozy with the Military, Too Accepting of `Facts'?

Keith Henderson, writer of The Christian Science Monitor, The Christian Science Monitor

THE Gulf war was hailed as a victory for the United States military. But many critics look back on it as a defeat for American journalism.

At the heart of their concerns is the charge that official censorship kept reporters from unearthing the true story of what went on in the Persian Gulf in those few brief months of conflict.

A leading critic is John R. MacArthur, author of "Second Front: Censorship & Propaganda in the Gulf War" (Hill and Wang, 1992), a biting analysis of what he saw as the military's efforts to restrict the flow of information and of the media's acquiescence to those efforts. His views were a flashpoint during a recent forum on war coverage at …

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Publication information: Article title: War Reporters Debate Gulf-War Press Standards Were Journalists Too Passive, Too Cozy with the Military, Too Accepting of `Facts'?. Contributors: Keith Henderson, writer of The Christian Science Monitor - Author. Newspaper title: The Christian Science Monitor. Publication date: March 11, 1994. Page number: 16. © 2009 The Christian Science Publishing Society. Provided by ProQuest LLC. All Rights Reserved.

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