Media at War

Drawing on examples from the 20th century's "total wars" and also "limited wars", terrorist campaigns and "complex emergencies" such as Rwanda and Somalia, this study argues that the media's performance in wartime may result as much from peacetime journalistic practices as from the special circumstances of war. The book concludes by assessing the impact of new communications technology and how the representation of future wars is likely to differ from those in the past.

Review: 'Carruthers has produced an ambitious and accomplished study that will be of obvious interest across a range of academic disciplines but a particularly welcome addition to the growing literature on the subject of war and the media.' - Greg McLaughlin, Ethnicity and Cultural Politics 'an excellent introduction to the study of the media and war. The circular format the author adopts makes the book intriguingly readable. The text is well documented and balanced in its presentation of existing scholarship in this field.' - Elizabeth Stanley-Mitchell, Millennium '...an interesting and pleasant lecture for those interested in how mass media affects and models inter-ethnic relations in welfare times, while constructing powerful stereotypical images based on ethnic, cultural or religious differences.' - Despina Dumitrica, The Ethnic Conflict 'Susan Carruthers...has done an excellent job of analysing journalistic and entertainment media as integral elements of the war system...Citing an array of primarily UK and US sources...the author provides both historical context and a realistic projection of what lies ahead.' - Philip Seib, News and Myth