Media in the Military

Jennica Lurie
jl390412@ohio.edu

There is a constant battle between the importance of the media and the trouble that they seem to cause for the military. Do the pros outweigh the cons of having someone who is able to report what's happening on the ground? Is media causing more conflicts when it is used as entertainment than helping the soldiers cope with life on base? There is a constant struggle in maintaining secrets between units and censoring means of entertainment when media is involved, but without it, no one at home would know the efforts overseas and the very daunting task of being in the military would be even harder without entertainment.

Embedded Journalists

Journalists on the front line serve multiple purposes. First and foremost, they report what is going on during wartime when nobody else can. Without them, the public back at home would have no idea how their loved ones are doing or how the war is progressing. They play a vital role in keeping the citizens informed about what's going on overseas. The latent function of having these embedded journalists are that they increase morale among the people in the states. Without these stories circulating for everyone to see, people would gradually forget or pay less attention to the wars. Considering all that soldiers do for us already, they deserve to be recognized in the news. Many people blame the U.S. loss against Vietnam on the lack of media coverage, leading to the public's complete ignorance of what was going on during the war. 

Unfortunately, these journalists often are unable to get every story from all angles so there are gaps in their reporting. This must be taken into consideration by the public, but many times it isn't, leaving citizens just as uninformed as they were before, now in a different way.

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Entertainment in the Military

Choosing to be in the military is a huge decision due to the number of things that must be sacrificed including time with family, ability to travel freely, and average forms of entertainment. While we are able to watch television and access the internet easily here in the United States, many soldiers don't have that option because of their locations. In lieu of these restrictions, new forms of entertainment have developed, some in better taste than others. Inappropriate and derogatory videos have been made as a means of entertainment even if it singles out certain groups of people and makes fun of those groups. It makes sense, to an extent, why videos like these would circulate through military units. Even the slightest bit of entertainment is welcomed when the soldiers have been without it for so long. 

As understandable as this may be, a lack of entertainment does not call for the unnecessary suppression of a group of people for no real reason. There are other ways to provide entertainment for soldiers. Army Entertainment "For the Soldier by the Soldier" is a good example of appropriate entertainment. This program allows soldiers to watch live performances of musicals and dance numbers. While this idea is fantastic, there are not many media related forms of entertainment for members of the military. We still have a long way to go in providing real entertainment through the media for soldiers overseas and at home.