Digital War Reporting examines war reporting in a
digital age. It shows how new technologies open up innovative ways
for journalists to convey the horrors of warfare while, at the same
time, creating opportunities for propaganda, censorship and
control. Topics discussed include:
* How is the role of the war reporter evolving as digital
technologies become ever more prominent?
* What is the rhetoric of war in digital journalism? How does an
emphasis on liveness, immediacy or realness shape public
perceptions of the nature of warfare itself?
* Is technology widening the gap between 'us' and 'them', or are
new kinds of empathy being established with distant others as time,
space and place are effectively compressed?
A key focus is journalists' use of digital imagery, real-time
video and audio reports, multimedia databases - as well as
satellites, broadband, podcasting, and mobile telephones - in
the reporting of a range of wars, conflicts and crises. The
examples analysed range from 24-hour television news coverage of
the Persian Gulf War, the first 'internet war' in Kosovo, digital
photography, from September 11 to Abu Ghraib, and bloggers in Iraq,
including journalists, soldiers and ordinary citizens.
Digital War Reporting is required reading for students,
researchers and journalists.
