The First Casualty: The War Correspondent as Hero and Myth-Maker from the Crimea to Iraq

By Phillip Knightley

Book Overview

The first casualty when war comes, is truth, said American Senator Hiram Johnson in 1917. In his gripping, now-classic history of war journalism, Phillip Knightley shows just how right Johnson was. From William Howard Russell, who described the appalling conditions of the Crimean War in the Times of London, to the ranks of reporters, photographers, and cameramen who captured the realities of war in Vietnam, The First Casualty tells a fascinating story of heroism and collusion, censorship and suppression.

Since Vietnam, Knightley reveals, governments have become much more adept at managing the media, as highlighted in chapters on the Falklands War, the Gulf War, and the conflict between NATO and Serbia over Kosovo. And in a new chapter on the post-9/11 wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, Knightley details even greater degrees of government manipulation and media complicity, as evidenced by the embedding of reporters in military units and the uncritical, openly patriotic coverage of these conflicts. The age of the war correspondent as hero, he concludes, appears to be over. Fully updated, The First Casualty remains required reading for anyone concerned about freedom of the press, journalistic responsibility, and the nature of modern warfare.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0801880300
• ISBN13: 9780801880308
• Release Date: October 2004
• Publisher: Johns Hopkins University Press
• Length: 594 Pages
• Weight: 1.52 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.6" x 5.5" x 8.5"
• Age Range: 18 years and up
• Grade Range: Postsecondary and higher

Customer Reviews

The victors don't just write the history, their propaganda..

I first read this book about ten years ago. It has been a seminal book for me. Until I read this book I somewhat dismissively accepted the adage "The winners write the history."After reading "The First Casualty" I understood that in fact the propaganda of the victors _becomes_ history. I also highy reccommend "Manufacturing Consent", "A People's History of the United States", "The Myth of the Great War" and "Overlord".

Deconstructing journalism

Philip Knightly puts together an exciting and informative history of the war correspondent. Stripping away the romanticism that such an occupation attracted, Knightly shows the grimmer side of covering wars, from having dispatches censored to being a willing collaborator in a conflict. He concentrates from the American Civil War to the Falkland Conflict. In it, Knightly snipes at Hemingway for not reporting during the Spanish Civil War but keeping material for his books while admiring Martha Glehorn's coverage of the Vietnam war (which later got her expelled from the country).For those interested in Media Ethics and journalism, Knightly's book is highly recomended.