Tuesday, August 25, 2009

Panel Two: The Philippines and the First World War

The second panel is just starting. Here's the agenda:

It's Officers Did Not Forget: The Philippine War, the Press, and the Pre-World War I Army--Dr. Thomas Bruscino

Conflicts of Interest: Media Ethics and the First World War--Mr. Jared Tracy

We welcome your questions for the panelists.

2 comments:

  1. Its Officers Did Not Forget: The Philippine War, the Press, and the Pre-World War I Army—Dr. Thomas Bruscino

    •Philippine War was extremely complex—ethnically, geographically, culturally. The war was extremely cruel.

    •“The press starts to report on the American atrocities in very great detail.”—summary executions, civilian casualties, torture, etc. Many of the reports were false, but the perception of great brutality persisted.

    •Soldiers’ letters were submitted to newspapers and printed, adding to the sensationalized reporting of the war.

    •1902 was the highpoint of media criticism for the United States in the Philippines.

    •James Franklin Bell was criticized for his use of concentration camps to house indigenous personnel by the media.

    •Even the end of the war didn’t end the negative press coverage. “I think it’s safe to say the entire war become a public relations disaster for the Army.”

    •“It’s also worth remembering that newspapers and periodicals were everywhere during this period.”

    •Philippine War reinforced lesson that the media have the ability to affect events on the battlefield in profound ways.

    •Congress played a role in the conduct of the war through hearings with Army leaders.

    •Philippine War veterans became very adept at using the media to further their own agendas after the war.

    •The interwar period featured one of the most successful P.R. periods in U.S. Army history.

    •“The Philippine war affected and continues to affect the way the Army thinks about counterinsurgency.”—Army begins to balance coercion and attraction as a way to confront insurgencies. This approach shaped much of the military response to small wars until WWII.

    •How do you win if the populace responds negatively to the methods used to achieve victory? This was a question raised by the Philippine incursion.

    •Philippine COIN lessons are not suited for generalization. The COIN experiences are more suited to vignettes and specific case studies.

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  2. Conflicts of Interest: Media Ethics and the First World War—Mr. Jared Tracy

    •1914: early forms of censorship were adopted. Even private correspondence was subject to censorship.

    •Censorship manifested itself in three ways: censoring outbound mail, censoring photographs and censoring news organizations.

    •Censorship doesn’t eliminate OPSEC violations, only limits the flow of information to the American public.

    •Many photographers and journalists were officially accredited while Soldiers were not allowed to take cameras into theater.

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