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War Journalism

• Author By Terrence Mattern
• Publication date May 1, 2022
• Categories: Uncategorized
• No Comments on War Journalism

War journalism is a form of journalism focusing on war or conflicts and their consequences. War journalism can take the form of written newspaper articles, photographs , videos , or audio recordings . War journalism is a genre of journalism that serves society by informing mass audiences with frequent updates to the rapidly unfolding events of different conflicts.

Genre Features

War journalism has a fluid genre nature. Today war journalists take on many different roles. Some work for news companies, some are civilian bloggers writing in their free time, and some are veterans who publish their survived war experiences. Video recordings from soldiers and civilians alike can provide content within the genre. War journalism shows events related to war as well as war itself. Content of related events includes interviews with civilians, photography of areas hit by missiles, or video coverage of unofficial militia factions.

War journalism tends to be narrative and descriptive in style. A prime example of a narrative war journalism piece is Tucker Carlson’s Esquire article covering his experience tagging alongside private military contracters in Iraq around 2004 [1] . While the article has moments where it discusses security companies’ CEOs and their policies, the majority of content revolves around Carlson’s intense and chaotic experience in war-torn Iraq. Interview articles with high-ranking military personnel can use a descriptive matter-of-fact tone. Likewise, interview videos with civilians whose homes were destroyed by artillery can be narrative.

The father of war journalism was William Howard Russell . He was sent to cover the Crimean War in 1854 for The Times (known today as TIME magazine) [2] . He famously described himself later in life as the “miserable patient of a luckless tribe” in response to the emergence of many more journalists who also dedicated themselves to reporting wars [2] .

War journalism extended into World War 2 . Dorothy Thompson was a female American journalist who traveled to Nazi Germany to gather stories for American audiences before America had joined the Allies and began fighting Germany. Thompson was invited by the Nazi Party to interview Adolf Hitler for Cosmopolitan magazine in 1931. Thompson’s later published writings – which were regularly critical of the Nazis – drew negative attention from the Nazi Party. In 1934, Hitler personally expelled her from Nazi Germany [4] .

The Vietnam War was the first war to be televised. By 1960, Americans were receiving the majority of their news from the television. Footage regularly aired showing planes flying, sometimes dropping bombs, and troops marching, sometimes in combat [5] .

Controversy

A major concern about war journalism is the physical danger it poses to journalists. A little over 2,000 journalists have been killed between 1997 and today- an average of over 75 per year [7] . Journalists put themselves at risk of being hunted by terrorists or accidentally shot down by their own countrymen. Namir Noor-Elden was working for Reuters in Iraq when an American Apache helicopter gunner received permission to shoot him because the gunner mistook the camera slung around his shoulder for a rocket launcher [8] .

Today’s popular access to smartphones enables anyone to become a war journalist by photographing or video recording events and uploading them in real time to popular digital platforms like Twitter and Telegram. This widespread ability has unfortunately opened the discourse for more voices to spread lies and propaganda. For example, in the current conflict between Ukraine and Russia , videos have emerged of surrendered forces being subject to torture or execution. Both sides’ officials claim it’s the other side committing cruelties while their own side is taking precautions to ensure prisoners of war are being treated humanely [9][10] .

• Inside the (Not-So) Secret Armies of Operation Iraqi Freedom by Tucker Carlson https://www.esquire.com/news-politics/a48032/private-armies-operation-iraqi-freedom/
• Excerpt from The War Correspondent by Greg McLaughlin, https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt19qgf0x.5?seq=1
• War Reporters: William Howard Russell by Seema Syeda https://www.military-history.org/feature/19th-century/war-reporters-william-howard-russell.htm
• Dorothy Thompson by United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, https://exhibitions.ushmm.org/americans-and-the-holocaust/personal-story/dorothy-thompson
• Excerpt 2 from The War Correspondent by Greg McLaughlin, https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt19qgf0x.6?seq=1
• The Vietnam War and the Media by Ronald H. Spector https://www.britannica.com/topic/The-Vietnam-War-and-the-media-2051426
• Death Watch Program by International Press Institute, https://ipi.media/programmes/death-watch/
• Leaked U.S. video shows deaths of Reuters’ Iraqi Stafers by Reuters Staff, https://www.reuters.com/article/us-iraq-usa-journalists/leaked-u-s-video-shows-deaths-of-reuters-iraqi-staffers-idUSTRE6344FW20100406
• Ukraine to probe after videos of show alleged Russian POWs shot, abused by Yaron Steinbuch https://nypost.com/2022/03/28/ukraine-to-probe-after-videos-show-alleged-russian-pows-shot/
• U.S. says credible reports indicate Russians executed surrendering Ukrainians by Rebecca Falconer https://www.axios.com/russian-troops-executed-surrendering-ukrainians-us-report-746990f0-bb72-48d3-becc-2981f6c1225c.html

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Covering Crisis and Conflict: The Role of War Journalism

• Published: November 22, 2023
• By: Yellowbrick

In today’s fast-paced and interconnected world, the role of war journalism is more important than ever. As conflicts and crises continue to unfold across the globe, it is the responsibility of journalists to provide accurate and unbiased coverage of these events. War journalism goes beyond simply reporting the facts; it delves into the heart of conflicts, shedding light on human stories and the impact they have on societies. In this article, we will explore the crucial role that war journalism plays in covering crisis and conflict, and the skills and qualities required to excel in this field.

1. Reporting from the Frontlines

War journalists are often found at the frontlines of conflict, risking their lives to bring the truth to the world. They provide firsthand accounts, capturing the chaos and devastation that war brings. These journalists play a critical role in ensuring that the public is informed about the realities of war and its consequences. Their reports can shape public opinion, influence policy decisions, and even help bring about change.

2. Unbiased and Ethical Reporting

In war journalism, maintaining impartiality and adhering to ethical standards is paramount. Journalists must strive to present a balanced view of the conflict, avoiding personal biases and agendas. They are tasked with presenting the facts objectively, giving voice to all sides involved, and providing context to help the audience understand the complex dynamics at play.

3. Telling Human Stories

War journalism goes beyond the statistics and political rhetoric; it humanizes the conflict by telling the stories of those affected. Journalists capture the struggles, resilience, and courage of individuals caught in the midst of war. Through their reporting, they give a voice to the voiceless, shining a light on the human toll of conflict and fostering empathy and understanding.

4. Investigative Journalism

Investigative journalism plays a crucial role in uncovering the truth behind conflicts and crises. Journalists dig deep to expose corruption, human rights abuses, and war crimes. Their work holds those responsible accountable and seeks justice for the victims. Investigative war journalism requires meticulous research, extensive fieldwork, and the courage to confront powerful individuals or organizations.

5. Digital and Multimedia Skills

In today’s digital age, war journalists must possess a range of technical skills to effectively report and disseminate information. They must be proficient in using various multimedia tools, including photography, video, and social media, to capture and share stories. These skills enable journalists to reach wider audiences, engage with them, and provide real-time updates from the field.

6. Cultural Sensitivity and Language Skills

War journalists often find themselves in unfamiliar territories, navigating different cultures, languages, and customs. Having a deep understanding and respect for the local culture is essential to build trust with the communities they cover. Language skills are invaluable, allowing journalists to communicate directly with sources, overcoming barriers and capturing nuanced accounts of the conflict.

7. Resilience and Mental Well-being

Covering crisis and conflict can take a toll on journalists’ mental and emotional well-being. Witnessing and reporting on traumatic events can lead to stress, compassion fatigue, and other psychological challenges. It is crucial for war journalists to prioritize self-care and seek support when needed. Building resilience and maintaining mental well-being are essential for long-term success in this demanding field.

The role of war journalism in covering crisis and conflict is vital for informing the public, holding accountable those responsible, and giving voice to the affected. It requires a unique set of skills, including unbiased reporting, investigative journalism, storytelling, digital proficiency, cultural sensitivity, and resilience.

Key Takeaways:

• War journalism plays a crucial role in providing accurate and unbiased coverage of conflicts and crises, going beyond reporting facts to shed light on human stories and societal impact.
• War journalists report from the frontlines, risking their lives to bring firsthand accounts and raise awareness about the realities of war.
• Maintaining impartiality and adhering to ethical standards are essential in war journalism to present a balanced view of conflicts and provide objective context.
• War journalists humanize conflicts by telling the stories of those affected, giving a voice to the voiceless, and fostering empathy and understanding.
• Investigative journalism uncovers the truth behind conflicts, exposing corruption, human rights abuses, and seeking justice for victims.
• Digital and multimedia skills are crucial in today’s digital age, allowing war journalists to effectively capture and share stories using various mediums.
• Cultural sensitivity and language skills are vital in navigating unfamiliar territories and building trust with the communities being covered.
• Resilience and prioritizing mental well-being are necessary for war journalists due to the potential psychological toll of witnessing and reporting on traumatic events.

To acquire the knowledge and skills necessary for a career in war journalism, consider taking the NYU | Modern Journalism online course and certificate program. These programs offered by New York University (NYU) and Parsons School of Design (Parsons) can provide valuable education and training to excel in this field. By embracing the responsibilities and challenges of war journalism, you can make a significant impact and contribute to a more informed and compassionate world.

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Dorothy Thompson is one of four journalists written about in Nancy Cott’s new book. Thompson is pictured circa 1940. The image is held by the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.

Courtesy of National Archives and Records Administration, College Park

Reporting on the world between the wars

Juan Siliezar

Harvard Staff Writer

Historian Nancy F. Cott tells the story of the period through the lives of four American foreign correspondents

The years following World War I were a time of uncertainty, upheaval, disillusionment. Many young Americans left behind the comforts of home in search of adventures and answers abroad. Among them were journalists who tried to make sense of a world so utterly changed, even the borders of much of it were no longer familiar. It’s these journalists whom historian Nancy F. Cott focuses on in her new book, “Fighting Words: The Bold American Journalists Who Brought the World Home Between the Wars.” Cott, the Jonathan Trumbull Professor of American History, studies the work and lives of four of them at a time when authoritarianism and facism were beginning their creep across the ruins of the old international order. The former director of the Schlesinger Library at the Radcliffe Institute, Cott is the author of six previous books, including “Public Vows: A History of Marriage and the Nation.” She spoke with the Gazette on her latest and what parallels she sees between then and now.  

GAZETTE:  The book centers on the work of four American journalists abroad between World War I and World War II. Can you tell us who they were and a bit about each of them?

COTT:  The short version is that they were young and restless Americans who each went recklessly abroad and reinvented themselves as international journalists while living very tumultuous personal lives. Dorothy Thompson was a woman who went abroad with vague intents, but with a clear hope that she would break into journalism. She quickly became a foreign correspondent and made quite a name for herself in Central Europe. In fact, Thompson was the first American journalist expelled from Nazi Germany for her reporting and came home to become one of the nation’s first “op-ed columnists” for the New York Herald Tribune. She was probably the most consistent anti-fascist voice in America in the ’30s.

Then there was Vincent Sheean, who became a friend of hers because they met in Europe, but was a different type of person: a freewheeling Catholic boy who spoke numerous foreign languages and went to Paris, where he got a reporting job with an American newspaper. It didn’t last. He became so politically passionate about opposing European imperialism that he dropped it because he did not want to be an objective journalist, so he made his way as a more opinionated freelancer through the later 1920s, ’30s, and into the ’40s.

His friend, John Gunther [also from Chicago], had in certain ways a similar career. Gunther dabbled in newspapers at home first and then managed to sort of nerve his way into becoming a foreign correspondent when he was about 24 for the Chicago Daily News, which had a very important foreign service, and did that until he was 36. After, he gained even more renown as a writer of books about foreign affairs. He, Sheean, and Thompson had lots of ups and downs in their personal, marital, and sexual lives.

Finally, my fourth character is an even-less-known woman, Rayna Raphaelson, who left the United States after her marriage fell apart. Raphaelson’s career was different in that she went to China, not to Europe, where she became enmeshed in the Chinese Nationalists’ struggle and worked for the revolutionary Guomindang [Nationalist party].

Historian Nancy F. Cott looks to four international journalists in her new book, “Fighting Words: The Bold American Journalists Who Brought the World Home Between the Wars.”

Harvard file photo

GAZETTE:  What drew you to write a historical account of international journalists during the 1920s, ’30s, and part of the ’40s?

  COTT: I started off wanting to write a book about the youthful generation of the 1920s. My previous book had been about marriage and the state, involving a lot of legal cases and lots of government documents. This time, I wanted to write a book driven by the narratives of real individuals. I started reading a large number of biographies and autobiographies of people who were young in the 1920s, and I was struck with how many of them went abroad. It was not something I expected to find, and it’s a point I want people to take from my book: There was a lot of global searching by this generation who had inherited a destroyed world after World War I. So, I started looking more and more in detail into some of their lives and I decided that in order to make my book go where I wanted it to, I needed to have some organizing theme. I chose journalism because, again, I discovered just how common a pass abroad that was for many young people who were smart, had a way with words, and had some education — which all four of these subjects did.  

GAZETTE: In the book, you explore how Thompson, Sheean, Gunther, and Raphaelson pursued international headlines while you make it a point to delve deep into their personal lives, including their marriages and many romantic and sexual affairs outside of them. Why was that important?

COTT: I see this as a newer principle of historical writing, influenced by women’s history and gender analysis, insisting that people’s personal and public lives are always intertwined. It’s not typical in historical writing, except in biography. I think that one has to look at the public accomplishments in view of the personal life. In part, this is because no one accomplishes what he or she accomplishes alone. The other people in that individual’s life are always contributors. Sometimes they’re positive contributors. Sometimes they are negative contributors. I think Dorothy Thompson’s travails with her husband, Sinclair Lewis [who was one of the most famous novelists of the time], because of his alcoholism, did not advance her professional aims. Yet, there were other features of her association with him, especially his very great fame, that did. These things have to be recognized. I also think that the opinions of those one is with intimately, or in friendship networks and social networks, are influential in terms of opinions that may be expressed professionally. They certainly were for these people. These things are relevant; they’re part of the historical data one should be consulting when writing about any individual. Bringing the two together is important.

“There was a lot more nonmarital sex and adultery in this generation of young people from the 1920s and 1930s than is recognized; it has never really been looked at as a generational phenomenon.”

GAZETTE: Did your subjects reflect certain trends from that youthful generation you wanted to look at? If so, what were they?

COTT: To an extent. In their generation there was a minority of cosmopolitan-minded, international-minded people who paid attention to social, cultural, and political emanations from other parts of the world. In that sense, I think these people do represent that very important and large minority of their generation; and also in their freewheeling sexual lives. There was a lot more nonmarital sex and adultery in this generation of young people from the 1920s and 1930s than is recognized; it has never really been looked at as a generational phenomenon. It seems to me — although I’m risking a generalization here — that in the stratum of the socioeconomic population my subjects represent (they might be called the aspiring middle class) there was a lot of sexual experimentation, since sexual adventure is part of what it meant to be modern at that time, and that the clampdown on sexual so-called social deviance in the post-World War II period changed that.

GAZETTE: At this particular moment in history, why was the work of international correspondents so important?

COTT:  The participation of the U.S. in World War I changed the nation’s orientation toward the world. American commercial policy, American industry, and American business had been international for at least 100 years by that time, but the U.S.’s position in international foreign relations wasn’t large or that influential. The position that the U.S. assumed during World War I — saving the Allied side with its supplies and its soldiers — was very, very important in making the United States a player on the world stage in a way that it had never been before, especially because it was economically positioned after the war so much better than any of the other former belligerents. (Also, a lot of war debt was owed to the U.S.) It was clear that the U.S. was going to have a position in international relations that it could not avoid, but the big question was whether culturally and even informationally, the U.S. population was up to speed with that. Some were, but I would say probably more than half were not, and so it took the prime information agency of the day, which was the press, to get the American public to see that this was an age of speedy transportation, and communication, and that just having an ocean on each side did not insulate us from involvement in quarrels and potentially wars that took place on other continents. The U.S. had international responsibilities and had to figure out how to or if to take these on.

GAZETTE: That echoes a bit today. From your research and looking at this particular point in American history, are there any other parallels laid out in the book?  

COTT:  Yes, the first, which is perhaps the most disturbing, is the one between the world’s political situation then and now in terms of the ability of authoritarian leaders who have popular support to take over in many important countries and destroy democratic institutions, especially representative parliaments. When I began this book, of course, I was aware of Benito Mussolini and Adolf Hitler, but I really did not know how many countries in Central Europe had been taken over by authoritarian leaders — some who by the 1930s were fascists. It was really striking that by the mid-1930s many European countries had an authoritarian or fascist leader. It wasn’t just Italy. It was Austria. It was Hungary. It was Yugoslavia. It was Poland. That’s all to say, the question — will democracy survive? — was on the table from the late 1920s into the 1930s. Today, with countries like Poland, Hungary, Brazil, and India sliding toward authoritarianism, I think it’s becoming a question as well.

Secondly, international journalists then, including the ones in this book, by making it a major issue that Americans had to be concerned about these failings, showed that Americans could not take their constitutional system and its continuation for granted. I think that’s very true today, too.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity. “Fighting Words: The Bold American Journalists Who Brought the World Home Between the Wars” is available in stores and online .

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ETHICAL CHOICES WHEN JOURNALISTS GO TO WAR

Ethics, safety and solidarity in journalism.

Originally published as a chapter of  “Conflict reporting in the smartphone era – from budget constraints to information warfare” . Copyright:  South East Europe  Media Program  of the Konrad Adenauer Stiftung  2016. Published with permission.

Going into the war zone requires journalists to make from the outset a clear ethical choice about how they intend to do their work.

There are risks attached to every choice, but choosing to maintain independence and work outside the protective arm of the military carries with it more risks, which is why journalists and the media who send them on mission, should prepare themselves more diligently for the task.

Regrettably, many journalists head to war ill-prepared for the challenge. Many have little or no hostile environment training and very often they are unaware of the conditions they can expect. Many are ignorant of their legal rights and responsibilities.

Few know that the United Nations Security Council passed an historic resolution in 2006 calling for an end to impunity in the killing of journalists or that in 2012 all of the major UN agencies agreed a comprehensive ‘Action Plan on the Safety of Journalists’.4 These are required readings for journalists covering conflict: they spell out the rights of journalists and the obligations of states to provide media with protection where it is possible.

AMISOM Troops Capture Territory from Insurgents in North Mogadishu (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

But few journalists are aware that international law governing armed conflict recognises that reporters play a special role in times of war. The Geneva Conventions, for instance, offer special protections to journalists and media staff. All combatants, whether engaged in all-out shooting wars, civil strife or low-level territorial disputes, should be reminded of it.

The link between safety and ethics may not be immediately obvious, but the same ambitions and economic factors that pressure inexperienced and poorly prepared freelance journalists to enter battle zones also pressure journalists to present the news as they think that their paymasters most want to hear it.

The news becomes what sells best, and certainly at the start of a conflict, accounts of the horrors of war and pictures of dead soldiers (at least from ‘our’ side) are not what many senior television executives prefer to be putting out.

An antidote to this ignorance is the book ‘ Crimes of War: What the Public Should Know ’, edited by Roy Gutman and David Rieff. This book evolved from the collaboration of journalists, lawyers and scholars dedicated to raising public awareness of the laws of war and their application to situations of conflict and to promote understanding of international humanitarian law among journalists, policymakers, and the public. 5

It contains useful information for any frontline reporter including advice not to go into a war zone with a weapon. Fox News Channel’s Geraldo Rivera controversially carried a gun along with his camera while reporting from Afghanistan , but the action prompted outrage among other journalists and news organisations, including the New York Times , which in 2007 banned their reporters from carrying a gun because it undermined their neutrality.

Journalists should also know that although they always run the risk of being captured and shot as spies, international humanitarian law says that accredited journalists travelling under the protection of an army are to be regarded as part of the accompanying civilian entourage.

If captured by opposing forces they must be treated as prisoners of war. Those who threaten or execute journalists on the battlefield should be brought to trial to face punishment that is sanctioned by international law.

That’s the theory at least. The problem is that the days of the war correspondent in full uniform are as much a distant memory as the set-piece armed struggles of traditional warfare. Journalism has become as much a guerrilla activity as the style of conflict that disturbs the peace of Ukraine , Syria , Iraq and Afghanistan .

But some principles of good ethical behaviour are essential no matter the nature of the conflict and how it is fought. For instance, journalists covering a conflict rely on the support of local people – translators, drivers, fixers – and all journalists should ensure that they are treated with respect and provided with protective equipment, decent work contracts and insurance in case of accident or injury.

And one of the cardinal principles of journalists – protection of sources – becomes ever more important when lives are at risk. Journalists have obligations to the people they report about. They must not reveal the identity of their sources if they are at risk. People will not tell journalists important news if they fear they will be revealed.

When courts and public authorities ask journalists to hand over material that will reveal a source of information, the ethical reporter will instinctively demur and, if necessary checking with the source first, protect that source even at cost to themselves.

But in times of war, when journalists are witness to unspeakable acts of inhumanity, this principle can come under intense pressure. Most journalists find it impossible to turn a blind eye to the horrors of war and there are occasions when journalists find their conscience impels them to cooperate with the authorities.

For instance, a few journalists who reported on the Bosnian war in the 1990s such as Ed Vulliamy of The Guardian  testified at The Hague before the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) and helped convict some of the leaders who committed acts of inhumanity and crimes of war during that conflict.

Although some journalists warned that they were setting a very unfortunate precedent, Vulliamy and others are unapologetic. They say that bringing to justice war criminals is a cause in which journalists, like other citizens, have a duty to join if only in defence of the civilised values that allow democracy and free journalism to function.

Others disagree. A good example is Jonathan Randal of the Washington Post who famously refused to answer a subpoena6 in 2002 ordering him to appear before the ICTY. Randal, who had covered the war, fought the subpoena with the backing of his paper and won. This action, which was supported by press freedom groups around the world, established some limited legal protection for war correspondents against being forced to give testimony.

Cases like this highlight why journalists and news media need to establish guidelines and internal rules that help protect their sources . Reporters may benefit from a clause in their contracts or their agreements that clearly state their duties and obligations in this area.

But written assurances in a contract will not resolve ethical dilemmas that crop up in the course of a journalist’s work. Sometimes in the midst of inhumanity and injustice journalists are forced to choose whether or not to intervene to help the victims of violence. They have to choose carefully because even when they have the best of intentions, journalists may not be as helpful as they think.

In ‘The Race Beat’, an excellent book about media coverage in the United States of the struggle for civil rights, there’s an anecdote about Flip Schulke, a distinguished freelance photographer who put down his camera and rushed to help a young woman demonstrator who was being beaten up by police. Afterward, Dr Martin Luther King reprimanded him, telling him he was much more valuable as a photographer than a participant.7

His rebuke is a reminder that journalists have to remember their primary role is to record events, expose malpractice, and circulate facts and information. They are not participants in the conflict and they need to consider carefully when the suffering of others, just like calls to patriotic duty, pulls them away from doing their job professionally.

Sometimes, the simplest way of keeping journalists safe is for media staff on all sides of a conflict to join together. Journalists are notoriously individualistic in their approach, but industry solidarity can reduce risks in reporting conflicts.

There was one conflict in modern times where journalists were largely spared from being killed, although they were often in danger. The Northern Ireland conflict raged for more than 30 years of so-called ‘Troubles’ involving terrorist groups in a political and religious conflict which claimed more than 3,000 lives. Remarkably, only one journalist was killed – Sunday World reporter Martin O’Hagan who was shot dead apparently by ‘loyalist’ paramilitaries in September 2001. One reason for this was the role played in the conflict by the National Union of Journalists, a union that represents journalists in both Britain and Ireland.

‘For 30 years there was an unwritten rule in Northern Ireland that journalists were not shot’, notes Michael Foley, former media correspondent of the Irish Times and now a journalism lecturer.

‘Journalists in Northern Ireland were always members of a union that offered solidarity and a bridge across the sectarian divide, regardless of the editorial stance of their publications,’ he says. ‘They stood together, loyalists and nationalists, in their opposition to censorship. They carried the same press card […] Even when working for highly sectarian outlets, journalists were able to demonstrate a professional detachment that allowed the media to be viewed as something between a necessary evil and a trusted conduit.’

Journalists in Ireland and the UK asserted their independence from governments that sometimes expect the media to act as state propagandists. When the UK government banned radio and television journalists from broadcasting the voices of Sinn Féin leaders and certain other political activists between 1988 and 1994, there were repeated protest by the union. The ban was eventually lifted after the nationalist paramilitary group the IRA declared a ceasefire.

4. UNESCO (2012) ‘UN Plan of Action on the Safety of Journalists and the Issue of Impunity’.

5. Gutman, Roy, Rieff, David (1999) Crimes of War: What the Public Should Know, see www.crimesofwar.org .

6. Bernstein, Nina (2002) ‘Should War Reporters Testify, Too? A Recent Court Decision Helps Clarify the Issue but Does Not End the Debate See’, The New York Times, December 14, see http://www.nytimes.com/2002/12/14/arts/should-war-reporters-testify-too-recent-court-decision-helps-clarify-issue-but. html .

7. Roberts, Gene, Kilbanoff, Hank (2007) The Race Beat: The Press, the Civil Rights Struggle, and the Awakening of a Nation, Knopf, New York.

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Ethical Choices When Journalists Go to War | 24th November 2016

Ethical choices when journalists go to war

Ethical Choices When Journalists Go to War | 25th November 2016

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War through the media and the role of journalism

Written from the perspective of a journalist who covered wars for 30 years in Latin America, the Balkans, the Middle East and Asia, the book “ Truth is Bombed. Media and War through the eyes of a war correspondent ” is an experiential narrative with a strong reflective tone, which applies for the first time in the science of communication in Greece the method of auto-ethnography and at the same time the result of a long-term research effort to document the role of powerful news organizations in the coverage of armed conflicts, fake news, propaganda and censorship in the major wars that shook the world from the 19th to the 21st century.

On the occasion of the publication of his book, the author, journalist, documentary producer, doctor of the Department of Journalism & Media of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki and research associate of ENA Institute for Alternative Politics Pavlos Nerantzis  talks to the Head of Communication & Media of the Institute, Vaggelis Vitzileos.

We are seeing significant changes in the form and practices of warfare in the last century compared to the 21st century, with the “postmodern wars” you mention in the book having a significant impact on the communication sector. Would you like to explain what you mean?

In postmodern armed conflicts, since the Gulf War, there has been a rapid shift in the centre of gravity from the power of weapons to the power of information. Owing to technological developments and the involvement of private corporations, the form of warfare has changed. Elites have formulated new communication strategies, promoted media centralization and sensationalist journalism, as well as ‘recycling journalism’. All this has been reinforced, resulting in new standards in the coverage and representation of war.

In other words, in the era of neoliberalism, these new facts are the result of the strengthening of the so-called military-industrial-media complex, i.e. the interlocking of political and military power, war industries and press barons at the expense of the credibility of the media.

For those of us who have been in war zones since the 80s, these changes were quickly felt in the field: first in the Operation Desert Storm and in the wars in the Balkans, and then in the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

The main features were, on one hand, the integration of embedded journalists into the armed forces of the belligerents, in order to have greater control over the flow of information, and, on the other hand, the strengthening of propaganda mechanisms, thanks to the collaboration between the military and PR companies offering ready-made reports. It is no coincidence that the propaganda discourse is increasingly seen as the one and only truth, while journalists who have a critical approach and investigate in search of the truth find themselves targeted, persecuted, discredited or even murdered. This is demonstrated, moreover, by the rapid increase in the number of war correspondents who have lost their lives in the last twenty years.

In short, while direct links to the battlefields have brought war into households and conflict has become a spectacle, the information is poor and sterile. For example, the mainstream media reproduce the discourse of political power about “humanitarian wars”, “smart weapons” and “collateral damage”, when in fact in postmodern wars the number of civilians who lose their lives has multiplied in comparison to that of the armed combatants.

Despite these changes, are there, however, constants in the relationship of media and journalists to the war?

Of course there are constants. As I mention in the introduction to the book, once a journalist is called upon to gather information about a major event such as an armed conflict, he or she is essentially making history, it becomes the moment history is made. The journalist is certainly not a historian, but he or she is de facto required to capture and convey to the public in words and images what is happening, at the moment it is happening.

Reporting from war zones is the first attempt to record history in real time. And, as Robert McNamara, Secretary of Defense during the Nixon administration, said, “attempting to make history out of contemporary events is a high-risk exercise.”

The question is in an armed conflict how will the war correspondent report as many sides of the truth as possible while his life is at stake, while the combatants spread fake news and impose censorship measures, while the media compete with each other. How in the extreme circumstances of an armed conflict, in which he is not fighting for his own survival like the others, he must remain safe and, as an eyewitness, recount moments of death, untold misery and diplomatic manipulations on which the lives of thousands of people depend. That is why, from the time of the Crimean War to the Vietnam War and the Lebanese Civil War, from Russell and Hemingway to Fallaci, Page, Leroy and Fisk, the role of the war correspondent has dominated the coverage of a conflict. It was an almost mythical figure in popular narratives. That is now tending to change.

The second constant in the field of communication in a war is the attitude of the combatants. Political and military leaders have always attempted to misinform their opponentsin order to hide the wrongs, fabricate social consensus and keep the morale high. Misinformation is easy to document in retrospect, but very difficult to detect in the moment it diffuses into a foggy landscape.

Truth is the first casualty of war. The truth – or rather aspects of the truth – are suppressed or distorted because of propaganda and censorship. “If people really knew [the truth], the war would stop tomorrow,” British Prime Minister Lloyd George told the editor of the Manchester Guardian during the Great War.

In the age of post-truth, fake news and “recycling journalism”, can the journalist bring out the truth? Or is the degradation of the role of the war correspondent in postmodern wars irreversible?

Some believe that the role of the war correspondent, due to the conditions in the field I mentioned above, has been eliminated. On the contrary, I believe – and this is what I attempt to demonstrate in the book, after tracing the emergence of the first war correspondent – that the presence of the journalist in a war zone is as necessary as ever. As long as he/she has certain tools to hand, he can gain credibility and minimise the risk of being transformed into an uncritical relayer of propaganda messages.

Does the subjective factor, emotionalism and experiences in the war zone “cloud” the war correspondent’s cool eye in recording events?

I devote many pages of the book to this topic, because it haunts me every time I am in a war zone. It is a difficult balance that is not a foregone conclusion. All the more so because each of us has a different ideology and psyche, as well as different motivations that lead us into a highly toxic environment. Do not forget, moreover, that language is an ideological tool. It is no coincidence that some war correspondents emphasise in their reports the power of weapons, heroism, using diatribe, while others describe human suffering and refugeeism and seek the real causes that led to an armed conflict.

From the time of World War I and the Spanish Civil War to the present day, two schools of thought have been recorded in the journalistic community. According to the first, journalists must describe a war situation “objectively”, while according to the second, objectivity is a myth and the goal of a war correspondent is to illuminate as many aspects of the truth as possible, mainly highlighting the dark side of developments. In my opinion, the former usually stay on the surface of things, champion the ‘day side’ and reproduce the propaganda discourse. There are, of course, those who apply the rules of sensationalist journalism, of yellow journalism, in order to arouse the public’s anger and increase readership or viewing figures.

The first school of thought is dominated by “who did something, when and what” and  rally around the flag . The second school of thought is dominated by “why something happened”. That’s why those who follow it are suspicious of even the propaganda of the day side. It is a conflict between two schools, one of supposed impartiality and the other of honest bias.

Obviously I place myself in the second school of thought. Because war not only destroys material goods and leads to the death of human beings, it does not only subvert normality, but it is against democracy. For the same reason I wrote this book at a time when the media can ultimately be a key factor in the outcome of a war. This is a book that appeals to the academic community as well as to the common man.

I believe that understanding the root causes of postmodern conflicts and their consequences – and it is the duty of the war correspondent to contribute to this – will most likely prevent public opinion from acquiescing to the legitimization of barbarism, the normalization of resorting to armed violence and experiencing the nightmare of another war. Not to say that one did not know what was happening where human life loses its value, as I note at the end of the book.

The book “Truth is Bombed. Media and War through the eyes of a war correspondent” is written from the perspective of a journalist who covered wars for 30 years in Latin America, the Balkans, the Middle East and Asia.

It is an experiential narrative with a strong reflective tone. Applying for the first time in the science of communication in Greece the method of auto-ethnography it is the result of a long-term research effort to document the role of powerful news organizations in the coverage of armed conflicts. In particular it focuses on fake news, propaganda and censorship in the reporting of major wars that shook the world in the 19th to the 21st century.

* The interview published in english by international news agency Pressenza

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Journalism as a Front of War: On American Media and the Ideology of the Status Quo

Introducing a new column by steven w. thrasher.

This begins a series of essays thinking about journalism as a front of war.

In terms of literary craft, tone, and meaning, journalism can be many things. In this series, we will explore the many ways journalism (including reporting practices produced via social media, but also in contrast to some forms of social media) is employed to different ends around the globe. This will include exploring journalism as a praxis of liberation, and how its techniques can even be practiced in such a way that journalism can work as an act of love.

But in the west, we will primarily consider how journalism is, first and foremost, a literary act of war—because everything in the west has been forged in, and is maintained, by war. The United Kingdom was created, and in many ways is upheld despite its decline, through extractive colonialism. This is also true of several of the countries in Europe (which are also not coincidentally among the few nations of the earth opposing a ceasefire in Gaza). Meanwhile, the United States was birthed in—and, if you ask many Native Americans, still defined by— settler colonialism.

As they help to uphold their societies’ hegemony over other nations, the news media of the west reflects these origins and ongoing realities.

And whether it is covering bombs and battlefields abroad or reporting on school districts, city council meetings, police, or gender domestically, journalism in the United States is especially steeped in warfront framing—because public discourse, culture, and language in America are literally referred to as wars.

Lyndon Johnson brought us the War on Crime and the War on Poverty. Ronald Reagan and Richard Nixon brought us the War on Drugs. (In addition to doing so in Vietnam and Cambodia, Nixon also declared a War on Cancer , which is referred to as such in federal policy to this day, even though war causes cancer.)

More recently, New York Governor Kathy Hohcul and the New York Post have declared a War on Shoplifting . With COVID-19, Donald Trump and Joe Biden both declared a War on the Virus. New York Times columnist Pamala Paul serves as a reliable foot soldier in the War of the Sexes and the Gender Wars. In news media and academia, we constantly hear about a War of Ideas. And conservative Christians, aided by Fox News, constantly whine about a War on Christmas (even though, from Halloween to New Year’s, you can’t escape yuletide carols in almost any public space in America).

And then, there’s perhaps the most circulatory battle phrase of them all, conjured up together by George W. Bush, the turn-of-the-century news media, and the security state: the War on Terror. If it were a person, this war would now be 22—old enough to have served a few tours in Afghanistan and Iraq (the latter battle site having been largely put in motion by New York Times journalist Judith Miller ).

Declaring “war on” something in American vernacular to address any social issue is not surprising, given how the ubiquity of the language of war infiltrates our everyday speech and thinking: people campaign in battleground states, engage in protest marches , experience viral outbreaks , talk to those on the ground , say things we regret in the heat of battle , wear makeup to camouflage our wrinkles, have LGBTQ or racial justice allies , reward someone for being a pioneer in their field, deliver bullet points in meetings, and are terminated when we lose our jobs.

And this infiltration not only extends to, but is largely led by, mainstream journalism.

We will begin our exploration by considering one example of how established journalism organizations favor warriors instead of those who question war in the mainstream press, starting by comparing the news production, and backgrounds, of two Jewish American women journalists in the United States. Both alumni of Stanford University: Emily Wilder, formerly (and briefly) of the Associated Press, and Carrie Keller-Lynn, who writes for the Wall Street Journal.

On January 29, Keller-Lynn co-authored a Journal article headlined “Intelligence Reveals Details of U.N. Agency Staff’s Links to Oct.7 Attack,” which argued—relying upon “intelligence reports reviewed by The Wall Street Journal ”—that “Around 10% of Palestinian aid agency’s 12,000 staff in Gaza have links to militants.” (Reading the article, the actual number of people accused of having participated in Operation Al-Aqsa Flood is 12 or 13, or 0.017%.)

This news was leaked right after the International Court of Justice had provisionally ruled in South Africa’s favor that claims of genocide were “plausible” and Israel was ordered “in accordance with its obligations under the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, in relation to Palestinians in Gaza,” to “take all measures within its power to prevent” genocide,” including “ killing members of the group,” “causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group,” and “deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part” (i.e., depriving them of food, water or medicine).

Al Jazeera reports Israel has killed more than 1,000 Palestinians since the court issued its ruling, and counting. Meanwhile, the Wall Street Journal has served as Israel’s partner in discrediting the United Nations Relief Works Administration, the main organ for getting aid into Gaza, and an organization Israel has wanted to take down for decades.

No journalist is “objective”—this will be a theme we will explore in greater depth in further essays—but Keller-Lynn was especially subjective in a particular way. Users of social media quickly pointed out , Keller-Lynn appeared to have served in the Israeli military.

As the Intercept’s Jeremy Scahill wrote , “ITrek, an organization that sends grad students on trips to Israel, took down an article featuring an old [2020] interview with Carrie Keller-Lynn, author of the WSJ story promoting Israel’s allegations against UNRWA.”

The ITrek article is fascinating, which you can find archived here or here . In it, Keller-Lynn describes herself as a “Freelance Strategy Consultant,” says she served in the Israeli military in 2009 (where she was “a military liaison to Egypt during the Arab Spring”) and went on her Itrek in 2016. She also talked about co-producing a podcast with her friend, Aliza Landes, called “Israel from Right to Left,” which Keller-Lynn describes as about “Baseline Israeli civics.”

“Hopefully policymakers and journalists will also be our audience” she said, which focused on “explaining fundamental things like how the Knesset is formed.” (The podcast’s webpage, www.israelrightleft.com , is inactive, nor is the podcast archived anywhere I could find.) Keller-Lynn claimed that her friend Alizia Landes, who is interviewed in the same ITrek article, had “literally created social media for the IDF” and was featured in a book called War in 140 Characters: How Social Media Is Reshaping Conflict in the Twenty-First Century . (I bought the book and there is a lot about Landes. Author David Patrikarakos credits her with being a member of the Israeli military’s “PR team for North American reporters” during Operation Cast Lead in 2008 and with making the Israeli military’s public affairs social media unit what it had become—“and she was three things that characterize it today: young, female and adept with social media.”)

This was with whom Keller-Lynn made her podcast. But back during graduate school at Stanford, Keller-Lynn said that the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions “movement was very present. I was in law school there first, and helping lead the on-campus fight against some active BDS resolutions.”

After later being a soldier for Israel and a “freelance strategy consultant” who co-produced a propaganda podcast with a member of the IOF’s social media team, Keller-Lynn later was published by the Wall Street Journal , covering Israel. Then, she obtained an intelligence dossier from Israel—and published damaging information about Israel’s avowed enemy the week the ICJ ordered it to pull back.

A few days later, Channel 4 in Britain got the dossier and said it contained “no evidence” to support Israel’s “explosive new claim” that “around 190 Hamas and Islamic Jihad terrorist operatives” had worked as UNRWA employees and “more than 10 staffers took part in the events of 7th of October.” But by then the damage was done: UNRWA had lost hundreds of millions of funding. There is no telling when, or if, it will come back.

How was anything reported by Keller-Lynn ever “objective” news journalism?

Compare this to the case of Emily Wilder, who is also a Jewish alumni of Stanford. On May 3rd, 2021, Wilder was hired by the Associated Press to cover state politics in Arizona. On May 16, the Israeli military destroyed the building housing the Associated Press’s Gaza bureau in an airstrike. On May 18, the Stanford College Republicans began a smear campaign against Wilder, circulating posts she had made in college and claiming that “While at Stanford from 2016 to 2020, Wilder was a leader in Jewish Voice for Peace and Students for Justice in Palestine, an organization with ties to Hamas affiliates, and which is notorious for inflicting acts of intimidation and violence against pro-Israel students.”

In subsequent days, conservative news outlets and Senator Tom Cotton piled on Wilder—and by May 20, she was fired. (Wilder told SF Gate that the AP “told me that I violated their social media policy and would be terminated immediately, but they never said which tweet or post violated the policy.”)

Why is Keller-Lynn allowed to have served in the Israeli military and bragged about being a propagandist for it prior to covering the Israeli military in one of America’s leading news organizations, but Wilder was not allowed to cover Arizona politics at another major outlet, just because she had criticized a foreign government some 7,447 miles away from Phoenix?

Or, considering them both as former students of the same university, we could ask a question with an even more direct comparison: Why did working as an activist for the BDS movement (in a group called Jewish Voices for Peace ) end one student’s future journalism career—but having worked as an activist against that same movement, and then as a soldier, did not end another’s?

The answer can be found, in part, in the unique role Israel plays as a de facto branch of the United States military (and thus how it is perpetually adjacent to the power of America’s elite institutions). But the specificity of this example should not elide the broad ways journalism in the United States valorizes American militarism (and that of its allies), loathes activism (especially pacifism), and rewards those who lead careers which generally uphold the status quo.

It speaks to how western journalism is not objective about war. Most mainstream journalism subjectively picks sides in wars (or picks war over peace) and actively promotes specific outcomes. Outlets are operationalized to achieve military goals. Most of the time, journalism’s narrative framing props up what bell hooks called “white supremacist, capitalist, [cis-hetero] patriarchy.” Or, as journalist Ramona Martinez put it, “Objectivity is the ideology of the status quo,” as she told Lewis Raven Wallace in his book The View from Somewhere: Undoing the Myth of Journalistic Objectivity . 

As readers, scholars, and practitioners of journalism, we are experiencing news media in a time of great flux. Let us unpack how often journalism is utilized as a tool of war, so that we may begin to undo the damage of this and begin—in our minds and in our craft—to dispatch journalism to better ends.

Steven W. Thrasher

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War Journalists, News Subjects, and Audiences in a Global, Digital World

• First Online: 03 September 2021
• pp 1013–1029

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• Donald Matheson 2  

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In recent years, the “rules of engagement” for journalists have changed. Journalists are now unable to justify a claim that they are independent observers, as the norms of impartiality become untenable in the face of demands that they take responsibility for the consequences of their reporting and as combatants recognize the tactical value of either facilitating or curtailing journalists’ access. These demands and pressures may not necessarily be new, but they are now to the fore in debates about conflict reporting. Ethics is increasingly involving conscious awareness of the multiple overlapping interests and responsibilities in reporting a conflict and an ongoing, open ethics of working through those interests.

The chapter concludes by arguing that the journalist at her or his best stays true to the human. Shifting from acting as gatekeeper to images and accounts of war to a curator or mediator of competing stories is not easy—the news of conflict is a highly contested space in which disinformation can sow confusion and destabilize publics. But engagement rather than distance, that is, a commitment to foster relationships of mutual understanding rather than detachment or skepticism, is central to quality journalism.

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Matheson, D. (2021). War Journalists, News Subjects, and Audiences in a Global, Digital World. In: Ward, S.J.A. (eds) Handbook of Global Media Ethics. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-32103-5_50

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Home > International Journalism > Ethics > War Journalism Resources > Resolving Ethical Conflicts in Wartime

War Journalism Resources Resolving Ethical Conflicts in Wartime Journalists face unprecedented ethical pressures during times of war. Popular patriotic passions, the demands and strategic interests of the government, cultural and national sensitivities and traditional journalistic responsibilities are often on a collision course. The Code of Ethics of the Society of Professional Journalists advises journalists to “Seek Truth and Report It” and to “Minimize Harm” — obligations that are frequently in conflict, as are the other two major obligations in the code: “Act Independently” and “Be Accountable.” Here are some questions — many of them overlapping — that journalists might consider in resolving ethical conflicts on issues ranging from disclosure of troop positions to publication of disturbing photos to evaluation of government demands to suppress “enemy propaganda.”

— Assessing Our Motivation in Publishing or Suppressing Information or Graphics — Assessing the Government’s Motivation in Seeking Suppression — Assessing the Reliability of the Information — Balancing the Importance and Harm of Publication — Considering Alternatives

Assessing the Government’s Motivation in Seeking Suppression — What are the government’s reasons for asking us to refrain from disclosure? Will officials discuss the reasons, even confidentially, or are they asking us to take the request on faith? Are their reasons credible, detailed and to the point? — Is the action requested the least restrictive means of responding to the government’s asserted rationale? — Is this a one-time request? Is there a history of cooperating with journalists to keep the public informed, or is this part of a pattern of indiscriminate and inappropriate secrecy? — Are government officials willing to negotiate a compromise that would respond to their concerns by other means than those they propose? — Do the grounds for requesting suppression appear to be designed to affect public attitudes — for example, to instill patriotism or insulate the American public from “propaganda” or perception of government mistakes, incompetence or mendacity — or do they have a legitimate basis apart from such attempts to influence public attitudes? [Top]

Assessing the Reliability of the Information — What are the motivations of the sources from whom we got the information, and how do those motivations reflect on a request to keep the information secret? Based on past experience, how reliable are the sources? Is our coverage skewed by using too many sources from one institution or ideological perspective? — Are there grounds to suspect that the news media are being used for the purposes of “disinformation” — by our government, by the “enemy” or by other interested parties? — Is it our choice to frame an issue or event in the way we are contemplating, or did it seem to drop into our laps readymade — and if the latter, are we being used to further someone else’s impression or agenda? — Might the subject matter be interpreted differently by those of other nationalities or cultures? If so, are our decisions being made by editors representing a broad spectrum of cultural backgrounds? — Can we gain any insights into our unconscious partisanship or bias by comparing our coverage with that of the foreign press or the ethnic or other special-interest news media in this country? How is our coverage viewed abroad? — How broad or narrow is our base of sources? — Is the commitment to one’s own reporters or a wire service or other source or news-gathering technique tilting the nature or emphasis of the coverage and fostering unintended misrepresentation? Is anyone in the news organization detailed to step back and ask this sort of question? [Top]

Balancing the Importance and Harm of Publication — How critical is the information in helping the public understand crucial issues, make informed decisions, influence policy or evaluate the performance of government? — How credible or speculative is the danger or benefit of publishing the information or illustration? To whom would harm be done, and how? Who would benefit, and how? — Is the information already available from other sources? Is it known to the “enemy” but not to the American people? Have foreign or Internet news outlets carried the same reports? Is there media consensus on the need to publish such information? — Has similar information been suppressed by the press historically, and on what grounds? Were the grounds the same as those being cited now, and were the circumstances comparable? What were the consequences of past suppression? — With especially disturbing or contentious photos, illustrations or other graphics, is the content at issue or the emotional impact of the specific form of presentation? — Does it make a difference in how we view our decision if we consider journalism ethics “nation-blind” — equally applicable in our own country and any other? — Could unanticipated consequences flow from the decision to publish — or not to publish? How harmful are they, and how likely are they to occur? [Top]

Considering Alternatives — Are there ways to report the information while accommodating legitimate government interests — by delayed release, omission of some details, etc.? Would some such technique satisfy the government’s stated objections, even if the government persists in opposing publication? Would the primary public interest still be served despite such an accommodation? — What would be lost if the information were withheld for future publication? Is there a time limit on the danger of releasing the information or graphics? Would the offensiveness of the content diminish with the passage of time? Would the information or graphics have significant social, policy or historical value if published or broadcast at a much later date, and if so, what is it? — Is there a way to obtain the information without ethically questionable techniques such as breaking the law, omitting critically important information or otherwise putting ourselves in a compromised position? What is lost and gained by using alternative techniques? — Should our information be shared with the government, either in addition to or instead of publication, and should such cooperation be disclosed publicly? Does collaboration risk immediate or long-term danger to journalists’ lives and/or independence? Is that risk outweighed by specific, credible, life-and-death consequences if the information is not shared? — Does the story suffer if a disturbing graphic or photo is omitted, and if so, how? Is the reader or viewer compelled to view the graphic? Is there a way to show the same graphic only to those who wish to view it — as with a warning on a voluntary web link? — Are there academic or unaffiliated experts or participants beyond our usual sources who can help us gain new perspectives on emotional or conventionally conceived issues? — Have we explained to the reader, listener or viewer the general nature of the information omitted and the reasons for the omission — or the reasons why we have chosen to disseminate information that others feel should be withheld as harmful or unpatriotic? — Can we get some guidance on our proper response by comparing current circumstances with those of non-wartime issues, such as past policies and practices on naming gang members or rape victims or revealing the details of a kidnap in progress?

— Peter Y. Sussman, member, SPJ National Ethics Committee (with assistance from workshop participants and other contributors)

SPJ News –  SPJ condemns arrest of Fox 7 News photojournalists, calls for law enforcement to allow journalists to report without interference –  Region 3 Mark of Excellence Awards 2023 winners announced –  Region 11 Mark of Excellence Awards 2023 winners announced

How to Write War Essay: Russia Ukraine War

Understanding the Purpose and Scope of a War Essay

A condition of armed conflict between nations or between groups living in one nation is known as war. Sounds not like much fun, does it? Well, conflicts have been a part of human history for thousands of years, and as industry and technology have developed, they have grown more devastating. As awful as it might seem, a war typically occurs between a country or group of countries against a rival country to attain a goal through force. Civil and revolutionary wars are examples of internal conflicts that can occur inside a nation.

Your history class could ask you to write a war essay, or you might be personally interested in learning more about conflicts, in which case you might want to learn how to write an academic essay about war. In any scenario, we have gathered valuable guidance on how to organize war essays. Let's first examine the potential reasons for a conflict before moving on to the outline for a war essay.

• Economic Gain - A country's desire to seize control of another country's resources frequently starts conflicts. Even when the proclaimed goal of a war is portrayed to the public as something more admirable, most wars have an economic motivation at their core, regardless of any other possible causes.
• Territorial Gain - A nation may determine that it requires additional land for habitation, agriculture, or other uses. Additionally, the territory might serve as buffer zones between two violent foes.
• Religion - Religious disputes can stem from extremely profound issues. They may go dormant for many years before suddenly resurfacing later.
• Nationalism - In this sense, nationalism simply refers to the act of violently subjugating another country to demonstrate the country's superiority. This frequently manifests as an invasion.
• Revenge - Warfare can frequently be motivated by the desire to punish, make up for, or simply exact revenge for perceived wrongdoing. Revenge has a connection to nationalism as well because when a nation has been wronged, its citizens are inspired by patriotism and zeal to take action.
• Defensive War - In today's world, when military aggression is being questioned, governments will frequently claim that they are fighting in a solely protective manner against a rival or prospective aggressor and that their conflict is thus a 'just' conflict. These defensive conflicts may be especially contentious when conducted proactively, with the basic premise being that we are striking them before they strike us.

How to Write War Essay with a War Essay Outline

Just like in compare and contrast examples and any other forms of writing, an outline for a war essay assists you in organizing your research and creating a good flow. In general, you keep to the traditional three-part essay style, but you can adapt it as needed based on the length and criteria of your school. When planning your war paper, consider the following outline:

Introduction

• Definition of war
• Importance of studying wars
• Thesis statement

Body Paragraphs

• Causes of the War
• Political reasons
• Economic reasons
• Social reasons
• Historical reasons
• Major Players in the War
• Countries and their leaders
• Military leaders
• Allies and enemies
• Strategies and Tactics
• Military tactics and techniques
• Strategic planning
• Weapons and technology
• Impact of the War
• On the countries involved
• On civilians and non-combatants
• On the world as a whole
• Summary of the main points
• Final thoughts on the war
• Suggestions for future research

If you found this outline template helpful, you can also use our physics help for further perfecting your academic assignments.

Begin With a Relevant Hook

A hook should be the focal point of the entire essay. A good hook for an essay on war can be an interesting statement, an emotional appeal, a thoughtful question, or a surprising fact or figure. It engages your audience and leaves them hungry for more information.

Follow Your Outline

An outline is the single most important organizational tool for essay writing. It allows the writer to visualize the overall structure of the essay and focus on the flow of information. The specifics of your outline depend on the type of essay you are writing. For example, some should focus on statistics and pure numbers, while others should dedicate more space to abstract arguments.

How to Discuss Tragedy, Loss, and Sentiment

War essays are particularly difficult to write because of the terrible nature of war. The life is destroyed, the loved ones lost, fighting, death, great many massacres and violence overwhelm, and hatred for the evil enemy, amongst other tragedies, make emotions run hot, which is why sensitivity is so important. Depending on the essay's purpose, there are different ways to deal with tragedy and sentiment.

The easiest one is to stick with objective data rather than deal with the personal experiences of those who may have been affected by these events. It can be hard to remain impartial, especially when writing about recent deaths and destruction. But it is your duty as a researcher to do so.

However, it’s not always possible to avoid these issues entirely. When you are forced to tackle them head-on, you should always be considerate and avoid passing swift and sweeping judgment.

Summing Up Your Writing

When you have finished presenting your case, you should finish it off with some sort of lesson it teaches us. Armed conflict is a major part of human nature yet. By analyzing the events that transpired, you should be able to make a compelling argument about the scale of the damage the war caused, as well as how to prevent it in the future.

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Popular War Essay Topics

When choosing a topic for an essay about war, it is best to begin with the most well-known conflicts because they are thoroughly recorded. These can include the Cold War or World War II. You might also choose current wars, such as the Syrian Civil War or the Russia and Ukraine war. Because they occur in the backdrop of your time and place, such occurrences may be simpler to grasp and research.

To help you decide which war to write about, we have compiled some facts about several conflicts that will help you get off to a strong start.

Russia Ukraine War

Russian President Vladimir Putin started the Russian invasion in the early hours of February 24 last year. According to him. the Ukrainian government had been committing genocide against Russian-speaking residents in the eastern Ukraine - Donbas region since 2014, calling the onslaught a 'special military operation.'

The Russian president further connected the assault to the NATO transatlantic military alliance commanded by the United States. He said the Russian military was determined to stop NATO from moving farther east and establishing a military presence in Ukraine, a part of the Soviet Union, until its fall in 1991.

All of Russia's justifications have been rejected by Ukraine and its ally Western Countries. Russia asserted its measures were defensive, while Ukraine declared an emergency and enacted martial law. According to the Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the administration's objective is not only to repel offensives but also to reclaim all Ukrainian land that the Russian Federation has taken, including Crimea.

Both sides of the conflict accuse the other of deploying indiscriminate force, which has resulted in many civilian deaths and displacements. According to current Ukraine news, due to the difficulty of counting the deceased due to ongoing combat, the death toll is likely far higher. In addition, countless Ukrainian refugees were compelled to leave their homeland in search of safety and stability abroad.

Diplomatic talks have been employed to try to end the Ukraine-Russia war. Several rounds of conversations have taken place in various places. However, the conflict is still raging as of April 2023, and there is no sign of a truce.

World War II

World War II raged from 1939 until 1945. Most of the world's superpowers took part in the conflict, fought between two military alliances headed by the United States, the United Kingdom, and the Soviet Union, and the Axis Powers, led by Germany, Italy, and Japan.

If you'd like to explore it more in-depth, consider using our history essay service for a World War 2 essay pdf sample!

After World War II, a persistent political conflict between the United States, the Soviet Union, and their allies became known as the Cold War. It's hard to say who was to blame for the cold war essay. American citizens have long harbored concerns about Soviet communism and expressed alarm over Joseph Stalin's brutal control of his own nation. On their side, the Soviets were angry at the Americans for delaying their participation in World War II, which led to the deaths of tens of millions of Russians, and for America's long-standing unwillingness to recognize the USSR as a genuine member of the world community.

Vietnam War

If you're thinking about writing the Vietnam War essay, you should know that it was a protracted military battle that lasted in Vietnam from 1955 to 1975. The North Vietnamese communist government fought South Vietnam and its main ally, the United States, in the lengthy, expensive, and contentious Vietnam War. The ongoing Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union exacerbated the issue. The Vietnam War claimed the lives of more than 3 million individuals, more than half of whom were Vietnamese civilians.

American Civil War

Consider writing an American Civil War essay where the Confederate States of America, a grouping of eleven southern states that seceded from the Union in 1860 and 1861, and the United States of America battled each other. If you're wondering what caused the civil war, you should know that the long-standing dispute about the legitimacy of slavery is largely responsible for how the war started.

The Israeli-Palestinian Conflict

After over a century, the Israel-Palestine conflict has evolved into one of the most significant and current problems in the Middle East. A war that has claimed the lives of tens of thousands of people destroyed their homes and gave rise to terrorist organizations that still hold the region hostage. Simply described, it is a conflict between two groups of people for ownership of the same piece of land. One already resided there, while the other was compelled to immigrate to this country owing to rising antisemitism and later settled there. For Israelis and Palestinians alike, as well as for the larger area, the war continues to have substantial political, social, and economic repercussions.

The Syrian Civil War

Pro-democracy protests broke out in southern Deraa in March 2011 due to upheavals against oppressive leaders in neighboring nations. When the Syrian government employed lethal force to quell the unrest, widespread protests calling for the president's resignation broke out.

The country entered a civil war as the violence quickly increased. After hundreds of rebel organizations emerged, the fight quickly expanded beyond a confrontation between Syrians supporting or opposing Mr. Assad. Everyone believes a political solution is necessary, even though it doesn't seem like it will soon.

Russia-Ukraine War Essay Sample

With the Russian-Ukrainian war essay sample provided below from our paper writing experts, you can gain more insight into structuring a flawless paper.

Why is there a war between Russia and Ukraine?

Final Words

To understand our past and the present, we must study conflicts since they are a product of human nature and civilization. Our graduate essay writing service can produce any kind of essay you want, whether it is about World War II, the Cold War, or another conflict. Send us your specifications with your ' write my essay ' request, and let our skilled writers help you wow your professor!

Having Hard Time Writing on Wars?

From the causes and consequences of wars to the strategies and tactics used in battle, our team of expert writers can provide you with a high-quality essay!

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Presenting superb samples isn't the only way our free essays service can help students in their writing endeavors – our authors can also create from point zero a fully customized Argumentative Essay on War that would make a genuine foundation for your own academic work.

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Essays About War: Top 5 Examples and 5 Prompts

War is atrocious and there is an almost universal rule that we should be prevented; if you are writing essays about war, read our helpful guide.

Throughout history, war has driven human progress. It has led to the dissolution of oppressive regimes and the founding of new democratic countries. There is no doubt that the world would not be as it is without the many wars waged in the past.

War is waged to achieve a nation or organization’s goals, but what is the actual cost of progress? War has taken, and continues to take, countless lives. It is and is very costly in terms of resources as well. From the American Revolution to World Wars I and II to the Crusades and Hundred Years’ War of antiquity, wars throughout history have been bloody, brutal, and disastrous. 

If you are writing essays about war, look at our top essay examples below.

1. War Is Not Part of Human Nature by R. Brian Ferguson

2. essay on war and peace (author unknown), 3. the impacts of war on global health by sarah moore.

• 4.  The Psychosocial Impacts of War and Armed Conflict on Children by Iman Farajallah, Omar Reda, H. Steven Moffic, John R. Peteet, and Ahmed Hankir

5. ​​Is war a pre-requisite for peace? by Anna Cleary

5 prompts for essays about war, 1. is war justified, 2. why do countries go to war, 3. the effects of war, 4. moral and ethical issues concerning war, 5. reflecting on a historical war.

“Debate over war and human nature will not soon be resolved. The idea that intensive, high-casualty violence was ubiquitous throughout prehistory has many backers. It has cultural resonance for those who are sure that we as a species naturally tilt toward war. As my mother would say: “Just look at history!” But doves have the upper hand when all the evidence is considered. Broadly, early finds provide little if any evidence suggesting war was a fact of life.”

Ferguson disputes the popular belief that war is inherent to human nature, as evidenced by archaeological discoveries. Many archaeologists use the very same evidence to support the opposing view. Evidence reveals many instances where war was waged, but not fought. In the minds of Ferguson and many others, humanity may be predisposed to conflict and violence, but not war, as many believe. 

“It also appears that if peace were to continue for a long period, people would become sick of the monotony of life and would seek war for a changed man is a highly dynamic creature and it seems that he cannot remain contented merely with works of peace-the cultivation of arts, the development of material comforts, the extension of knowledge, the means and appliances of a happy life.”

This essay provides an interesting perspective on war; other than the typical motivations for war, such as the desire to achieve one’s goals; the author writes that war disrupts the monotony of peace and gives participants a sense of excitement and uncertainty. In addition, it instills the spirit of heroism and bravery in people. However, the author does not dispute that war is evil and should be avoided as much as possible. 

“War forces people to flee their homes in search of safety, with the latest figures from the UN estimating that around 70 million people are currently displaced due to war. This displacement can be incredibly detrimental to health, with no safe and consistent place to sleep, wash, and shelter from the elements. It also removes a regular source of food and proper nutrition. As well as impacting physical health, war adversely affects the mental health of both those actively involved in conflict and civilians.”

Moore discusses the side effects that war has on civilians. For example, it diverts resources used on poverty alleviation and infrastructure towards fighting. It also displaces civilians when their homes are destroyed, reduces access to food, water, and sanitation, and can significantly impact mental health, among many other effects. 

4.   The Psychosocial Impacts of War and Armed Conflict on Children by Iman Farajallah, Omar Reda, H. Steven Moffic, John R. Peteet, and Ahmed Hankir

“The damage done by war-related trauma can never be undone. We can, however, help reduce its long-term impacts, which can span generations. When we reach within ourselves to discover our humanity, it allows us to reach out to the innocent children and remind them of their resilience and beauty. Trauma can make or break us as individuals, families, and communities.”

In their essay, the authors explain how war can affect children. Children living in war-torn areas expectedly witness a lot of violence, including the killings of their loved ones. This may lead to the inability to sleep properly, difficulty performing daily functions, and a speech impediment. The authors write that trauma cannot be undone and can ruin a child’s life.  

“The sociologist Charles Tilly has argued that war and the nation state are inextricably linked. War has been crucial for the formation of the nation state, and remains crucial for its continuation. Anthony Giddens similarly views a link between the internal pacification of states and their external violence. It may be that, if we want a durable peace, a peace built on something other than war, we need to consider how to construct societies based on something other than the nation state and its monopoly of violence.”

This essay discusses the irony that war is waged to achieve peace. Many justify war and believe it is inevitable, as the world seems to balance out an era of peace with another war. However, others advocate for total pacifism. Even in relatively peaceful times, organizations and countries have been carrying out “shadow wars” or engaging in conflict without necessarily going into outright war. Cleary cites arguments made that for peace to indeed exist by itself, societies must not be built on the war in the first place. 

Many believe that war is justified by providing a means to peace and prosperity. Do you agree with this statement? If so, to what extent? What would you consider “too much” for war to be unjustified? In your essay, respond to these questions and reflect on the nature and morality of war. 

Wars throughout history have been waged for various reasons, including geographical domination, and disagreement over cultural and religious beliefs. In your essay, discuss some of the reasons different countries go to war, you can look into the belief systems that cause disagreements, oppression of people, and leaders’ desire to conquer geographical land. For an interesting essay, look to history and the reasons why major wars such as WWI and WWII occurred.

In this essay, you can write about war’s effects on participating countries. You can focus on the impact of war on specific sectors, such as healthcare or the economy. In your mind, do they outweigh the benefits? Discuss the positive and negative effects of war in your essay. To create an argumentative essay, you can pick a stance if you are for or against war. Then, argue your case and show how its effects are positive, negative, or both.

Many issues arise when waging war, such as the treatment of civilians as “collateral damage,” keeping secrets from the public, and torturing prisoners. For your essay, choose an issue that may arise when fighting a war and determine whether or not it is genuinely “unforgivable” or “unacceptable.” Are there instances where it is justified? Be sure to examples where this issue has arisen before.

Humans have fought countless wars throughout history. Choose one significant war and briefly explain its causes, major events, and effects. Conduct thorough research into the period of war and the political, social, and economic effects occurred. Discuss these points for a compelling cause and effect essay.

For help with this topic, read our guide explaining “what is persuasive writing ?”If you still need help, our guide to grammar and punctuation explains more.

Martin is an avid writer specializing in editing and proofreading. He also enjoys literary analysis and writing about food and travel.

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How to Write a Perfect Essay On/About War (A Complete Guide)

War is painful. It causes mass death and the destruction of infrastructure on an unimaginable scale. Unfortunately, as humans, we have not yet been able to prevent wars and conflicts from happening. Nevertheless, we are studying them to understand them and their causes better.

In this post, we will look at how to write a war essay. The information we will share here will help anyone craft a brilliant war essay, whatever their level of education.

Let?s commence.

What Is a War Essay?

A war essay is an essay on an armed conflict involving two states or one state and an armed group. You will be asked to write a war essay at some point if you are taking a history course, diplomacy course, international relations course, war studies course, or conflict management course.

When asked to write about a war, it is important to consider several things. These include the belligerents, the location of the conflict, the leading cause or causes of the conflict, the course of the event so far, and the possible solutions to the conflict.

The sections below will help you discover everything you need to know about how to write war essays.

An essay about war can take many forms, including:

• Expository essay ? where you explore the timeline of the wars (conflicts), losses/consequences, significant battles, and notable dates.
• Argumentative essay . A war essay that debates an aspect of a certain war.
• Cause and Effect essay examines the events leading to war and its aftermath.
• Compare and contrast a war essay that pits one war or an aspect of the war against an
• Document-based question (DBQ) that analyzes the historical war documentation to answer a prompt.
• Creative writing pieces where you narrate or describe an experience of or with war.
• A persuasive essay where use ethos, pathos, and logos (rhetorical appeals) to convince your readers to adopt your points.

The Perfect Structure/Organization for a War Essay

To write a good essay about war, you must understand the war essay structure. The war essay structure is the typical 3-section essay structure. It starts with an introduction section, followed by a body section, and then a conclusion section. Find out what you need to include in each section below:

1. Introduction

In the introduction paragraph , you must introduce the reader to the war or conflict you are discussing. But before you do so, you need to hook the reader to your work. You can only do this by starting your introduction with an attention-grabbing statement . This can be a fact about the war, a quote, or a statistic.

Once you have grabbed the reader's attention, you should introduce the reader to the conflict your essay is focused on. You should do this by providing them with a brief background on the conflict.

Your thesis statement should follow the background information. This is the main argument your essay will be defending.

The introduction section of a war essay is typically one paragraph long. But it can be two paragraphs long for long war essays.

In the body section of your war essay, you need to provide information to support your thesis statement. A typical body section of a college essay will include three to four body paragraphs. Each body paragraph starts with a topic sentence and solely focuses on it. This is how your war essay should be.

Once you develop a thesis statement, you should think of the points you will use to defend it and then list them in terms of strength. The strongest of these points should be your topic sentences.

When developing the body section of your war essay, make sure your paragraphs flow nicely. This will make your essay coherent. One of the best ways to make your paragraphs flow is to use transition words, phrases, and sentences.

The body section of a war essay is typically three to four paragraphs long, but it can be much longer.

3. Conclusion

In the conclusion section of your war essay, you must wrap up everything nicely. The recommended way to do this is to restate your thesis statement to remind the reader what your essay was about. You should follow this by restating the main points supporting your thesis statement.

Your thesis and the restatement of your main points should remind your reader of what your essay was all about. You should then end your essay with a food-for-thought, a recommendation, or a solution. Whatever you use to end your essay, make sure it is relevant to what you have just covered in your essay, and it shows that you have widely read on the topic.

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How to write a war Essay? ? The Steps

Several wars have taken place on earth, including:

• World War I and II
• Russian Civil War
• Chinese Civil War
• Lebanese Civil War
• Syrian Civil War
• The Spanish Civil War
• The American Civil War
• Afghanistan War

The list of wars that have happened to date is endless.

Writing a war essay is never easy. You need to plan your work meticulously to develop a brilliant war essay. If you are assigned to write a war essay or paper, follow the steps below to develop a brilliant essay on any conflict.

1. Read The Assignment Instructions Carefully

You must know precisely what to do to write a brilliant war essay. College professors typically provide multiple instructions when they ask students to write college essays. Students must then read the instructions carefully to write precisely what their professors want to see.

Therefore, when you get a war essay assignment, you must read the instructions carefully to understand what is needed of you entirely. Know exactly what conflict your professor wants you to focus on, what aspect of the conflict (the origin, the chronology of events leading to the war, external factors, etc.), what sources they want you to use, and the number of pages they want.

Knowing what your professor needs will help you to develop it nicely.

2. Do Your Research

After reviewing the war assignment instructions, you should research the topic you?ve been asked to focus on. Do this by Googling the topic (and its variations), searching it in your college database, and searching it in scholarly databases. As you read more on the topic, take a lot of notes. This will help you to understand the topic better, plus its nuances.

Once you understand the topic well, you should start to think about what precisely your essay should focus on. If you like, this will be the foundation of your essay or the thesis statement.

Once you settle on the thesis statement, read more on the topic but focus on information that will help you defend your thesis statement.

3. Craft A Thesis Statement and Create an Outline

At this point, you should have a rough thesis statement . Once you have read more information on it as per the previous step, you should be able to refine it into a solid and argumentative statement at this point.

So refine your thesis statement to make it perfect. Your thesis statement can be one or two sentences long but never more. Once you have created it, you should create an outline.

An outline is like a treasure map ? it details where you must go comprehensively. Creating an outline will give you an overview of what your essay will look like and whether it will defend your thesis statement. It will also make it easier for you to develop your essay.

Ensure your outline includes a striking title for your conflict essay, the topic sentence for each body paragraph, and the supporting evidence for each topic sentence.

Related Read:

• Writing a compelling claim in an essay
• How to write sound arguments and counterarguments

4. Start Writing the Introduction

When you finish writing your essay, you should start writing the introduction. This is where the rubber meets the road ?the actual writing of your war essay begins.

Since you have already created a thesis statement and an outline, you should not find it challenging to write your introduction. Follow your outline to develop a friendly compact, and informative introduction to the conflict your essay will focus on.

Read your introduction twice to make sure it is as compact and as informative as it can be. It should also be straightforward to understand.

5. Write The Rest of Your Essay

Once you have created the introduction to your war essay, you should create the body section. The body section of your essay should follow your outline. Remember the outline you created in step 3 has the points you should focus on in each body paragraph. So follow it to make developing your essay?s body section easy.

As you develop your essay's body section, ensure you do everything nicely. By this, we mean you develop each topic sentence entirely using the sandwich paragraph writing method.

Also, make sure there is a nice flow between your sentences and between your paragraphs.

6. Conclude Your War Essay

After writing the rest of your essay, you should offer a robust conclusion. Your conclusion should also follow your outline. As usual, it should start with a thesis restatement and a restatement of all your main points.

It should then be followed by a concluding statement that provides the reader with food for thought. You should never include new information in your conclusion paragraph. This will make it feel like another body paragraph, yet the purpose of your conclusion should be to give your reader the feeling that your essay is ending or done.

7. Proofread and Edit Your Essay

This is the last step of writing a war essay or any other one. This step is final, but it is perhaps the most important step. This is because it distinguishes an ordinary essay from an extraordinary one.

You should proofread your essay at least thrice, especially if it is short. When you do it the first time, you should look for grammar errors and other basic mistakes. Eliminate all the errors and mistakes you find. When you do it the second time, you should do it to ensure the flow of your essay is perfect.

And when you do it the third and last time, you should use editing software like Grammarly.com to catch all the errors you might have missed.

When you proofread your war essay in this manner, you should be able to transform it from average to excellent. After completing this step, your war essay will be ready for submission.

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• How to write an essay from scratch
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Tips for Writing a Brilliant War Essay

Follow the tips below to develop a brilliant essay.

• A brilliant topic is always vital.

When you are assigned a war essay, you should do your best to choose or create a brilliant topic for your essay. A boring topic focusing on something discussed and debated a million times will never be brilliant.

• A strong thesis statement is essential.

Along with a brilliant topic, you need a strong thesis statement to make your war essay brilliant. This is because a strong thesis statement is like a lighthouse ? it will guide safely to the harbor (conclusion).

• Do not be afraid to discuss the tragedy.

Sometimes war details can feel too graphic or gruesome, leading to hesitance on the part of students when they are writing articles. Do not hesitate or be afraid to discuss tragedy if discussing tragedy will add to the substance of your essay.

• Be impartial.

Sometimes it can be challenging to write an impartial essay, especially if you relate to or strongly support one side in a conflict. Well, this should never happen. As a researcher, you must be as impartial as you can be. You must inform your reader of all the facts available to you without bias so they have an accurate impression of whatever you are talking about.

• Ensure your work has flow.

This is one of the most important things you must do when writing a war essay. Since war essays sometimes discuss disparate issues, ending with a disjointed essay is straightforward. You should do all you can to ensure your workflows are well, including using transition words generously. 

• Proofread your work.

You should always proofread your essays before submission. This is what will always upgrade them from ordinary to extraordinary. If you don?t proofread your work, you will submit subpar work that will not get you a good grade.

• Explore unexplored angles.

Chances are, whatever war or conflict you write about has already been written on or reported on a million times. If you want your essay to be interesting, you should explore unexplored angles on conflicts. This will make your work very interesting.

War Essay Sample to Inspire your Writing

Here is a short sample of a war essay on the Russia-Ukraine War.

The most affected cities in the Russia-Ukraine War 2022

The Russia-Ukraine war has killed tens of thousands and displaced millions across Ukraine. It has also led to the destruction of civilian homes and infrastructure across Ukraine. The eastern cities of Bakhmut, Kharkiv, and Mariupol are the most affected cities in the Russia-Ukraine War 2022.

Bakhmut in southeastern Ukraine is the site of the bloodiest and longest-running battle between Russian and Ukrainian forces. The city is strategic as it is close to supply routes that the Russians use in the occupied territories of southern Ukraine. It is estimated that as much as 90% of Bakhmut has been destroyed in Russia?s bid to take over the city.

Mariupol is a Ukrainian port city between Russia and the Russian-occupied Crimea. Russia decided to take the city early on to deny Ukraine a foothold close to its border and operation areas in the south. Yet the city was defended by a fanatic Ukrainian military battalion that swore not to give it up. This led to Russia bombing much of the city to the ground. In the end, Russia won the battle for Mariupol and now controls the city and the surrounding area.

Kharkiv is Ukraine?s second biggest city. It is less than 45 minutes away from the Russian border. Taking the city was one of the top priorities for Russia at the start of the war because of its proximity to Russia. Nevertheless, Ukraine deployed much of its army to defend the city and has managed to do so. Nevertheless, this has come at a cost. Much of Kharkiv?s infrastructure is destroyed. Its power lines, highways, roads, railways, dams, and industries are destroyed.

The Russia-Ukraine conflict has affected much of Ukraine, especially the eastern cities of Bakhmut, Kharkiv, and Mariupol. All three cities have suffered tremendous infrastructure damage in the past few months. Efforts must be made by the two state parties and the international community to prevent further destruction of Ukrainian cities in this conflict.

War Essay Topic Ideas

Not sure what to write about in your war essay? Here are some ideas to get your creative juices flowing.

• Causes of Russia-Ukraine conflict in 2022
• What led to Russia?s annexation of Crimea in 2014?
• Causes of Tigray conflict in Ethiopia
• Somalia-Kenya border conflict
• Conflict in eastern DRC
• Secessionist movements in the UK
• Western Sahara versus Morocco
• Causes of the Libyan Civil War
• The American war of independence
• The American civil war
• The English civil war
• The Napoleonic wars
• The French invasion of Russia
• Causes of the crusader wars
• The German invasion of Poland and its consequences
• The battle of Stalingrad and its bearing on the cause of WWII
• The causes of World War I
• The Japanese invasion of Southeast Asia
• What caused America to end the Vietnam War
• The Cuban Missile Crisis
• The fall of the Berlin Wall
• The Arms Race
• Role of the cold world war in shaping the world we live today
• The causes and consequences of the Syrian Civil War
• The role of propaganda in the Iraq War
• Implications of the Syrian Civil War

As you Come to the End, ?

An essay on war is not easy to write, but it can be written when you have the right information. This post provides you with all the vital information needed to write a brilliant war essay. We hope that this info makes it easy for you to write your war essay.

If you need assistance writing your war essay, don?t hesitate to order an essay online from our website. We?ve essay experts who can develop brilliant war essays 24/7. Visit our home page right now to get the assignment help you need.

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The War on Drugs and the Incarceration of Black Women Analytical Essay

Introduction, the war on drugs as the war against black women, works cited.

The war on drugs is often associated with controversy. Issues of gender and race have been raised on numerous occasions in the war against drugs. The war on drugs was declared in the United States over three decades ago, and individuals of color have been greatly affected by this war.

The policies that have been put in place in the war on drugs have exhibited a discriminatory element. In particular, black women and individuals from the minority groups have been targeted in this war. In this case, such individuals are predisposed to harassment from the state officials.

It can be noted that black women have been made to bear the brunt of police cruelties in the name of war on drugs. Considering the plight of black women in the war on drugs, this paper discusses the concept of war on drugs as the war against black women.

The period between 1986 and 1991 was a critical time for the African American community as a whole. At this time, the community was facing a high amount of oppression making them take out their frustration on the use of drugs. Essentially, top of the list of substance abusers were the black females who recorded twice the number of drug offences compared to their male counterparts. Despite the high number of black women incarcerated for drug abuse, authorities do not place emphasis on this issue.

Criminologists often focus on male oriented cases ignoring the plight of the female community. Feminists specialized in criminology have thus dubbed the exclusion of black female drug offenders as discriminatory policies. This has given rise the campaign that accuse criminologist on the war on drugs as the war against black women (Bush-Baskette, p. 5).

The legislations on drugs have been known to affect the black women more than any other group. It has been established that the black women form the rapidly expanding population that is arrested on drug related offences.

Notably, from the late 1980s, the number of black women who have been arrested on drug related offences increased by 800%. This was double the rate of women from other racial groups. In New York, the percentage of black women arrested on drug offences was over 90% while they make barely a third of the women population in the state (Bush-Baskette, p. 43).

The early form of the war on drugs constituted of the arrest of low level drug users and dealers, as opposed to high-ranking people in the trade. This removed the attention from the drug lords who control the dynamics of the industry across the globe.

Another issue regarding the control of drug use was the misrepresentation and improper recording of the people arrested. Fabricated statistics saw the Increase in the number of blacks arrested for the use of drugs and the decrease in the arrest of whites. This triggered a national out raw which advocated for the equal treatment of all races regarding the eradication of drugs.

Women may get involved in drug dealings due to similar reasons as the male culprits. Nonetheless, there are certain gender-specific aspects that should be considered. It can be observed that black women are faced with various forms of oppressions and thus find it difficult to support their families.

In this case, they are forced to engage in street crimes for survival. Most of these women become involved with males who are drug traffickers and find themselves using the prohibited drugs. These women are often threatened with violence and abusive relationship if they refuse to cooperate with their male partners in drug activities (Bush-Baskette, p. 14).

Though the drug trade is said to be profitable, it can be observed that women do not accrue the benefits associated with this trade is equal measure to their male counterparts. Indeed it has been established that women are likely to spend more time in prison on drug related crimes compared to the male dealers. This is because women are likely not able to reveal their male accomplices to earn shorter sentence. On the other hand, males are known to reveal their female counterparts in the trade when required to do so (Chesney-Lind, p. 37).

Heroin was mostly abused by blacks as opposed to whites faring differently from marijuana which was consumed equality by both blacks and whites. The term the war on drugs as the war on women is used to display the level of disregard the society has for the welfare of the black women.

Women associated with drug use recorded fewer cases of the application of force and violence during their consumption or purchase. Poverty and unemployment are the leading factors for the reason of drug on both male and female cases (Stevens and Wexler, p. 28).

The state of Florida recorded drug peddling as the single most recurring primary offence in the years of 1993-1994. Drug peddling was the main offence reported in the criminal files and records. These records only represent the cases concerning drug use, as opposed to drug use accompanied with lesser charges (Nelson, p. 184).

An analysis of the statistics of the incarcerated women lists black women who take the lead representing 51% of the population. Black males take the second slot recording 49% of the country’s population. In the third position are white women who record a competitive 43%. White males take the last slot recording 38% representing the lowest group in reference to the consumption of drugs (Gartner and Kruttschnitt, p. 29).

The police and state authorities are often accused of racial profiling when it comes to war on drugs. This is because there are significant racial disparities observed in arresting, convicting, and incarcerating black women. Arrest, conviction, and incarceration depend on the discretion of the law enforcers in their war on drugs. It is assumed that black women are vessels for prohibited drugs. In this case, the black women are often perceived by the law enforcers as couriers in the drug trade (Stevens and Wexler, p. 19).

Consequently, these women are targeted by the state and federal officers for strip search aimed at identifying drugs. Therefore, black women have been stereotypes as possible drug dealers. It has been established that black women are most likely to be subjected to X-rays after being frisked than white women. On the contrary, the chance of finding black women with contraband products is half compared to white women who stand a high chance of carrying contraband products (Bush-Baskette, p. 45).

Black women are often exposed to regular and offensive strips and searches by the law enforcement agents in the war against drugs. The war on drugs has gone to the extreme. Enhanced surveillance and policing of the reproduction of black women has been reported in the fight against drugs.

Essentially, discriminatory testing of black women who are pregnant to establish drug use is carried out by state officials. Also, there is enhanced surveillance and policing of poor women of African descent under the guise of monitoring child abuse and neglect. This can be argued as being part of a wider scheme in the protracted war on drugs (Bush-Baskette, p. 32).

It is estimated that about two hundred women in over thirty states have faced prosecution on drug related crimes. In some instances, child or fetal abuse is associated with the use of drugs when the woman is pregnant.

In South Carolina State, there is legislation that women who use drugs during while pregnant can be charged with child abuse. In this case, such women are reported to the state authorities by their doctors. Instead of offering rehabilitation services to such women, they are arrested and prosecuted based on child abuse laws (Bush-Baskette, p. 51).

In conclusion, the fight against drugs has come a long way for the time of its rise in the ten years ago. The U.S. has the greatest number of consumers owing to a number of factors. This rate has been on the rise due to the political, social and economic factors experienced today.

Top of the list are black women who are notorious for the frequent consumption of the substance. This is not ideal because a large number of the same culprits are single mothers. It is thus ideal for authorities to place more emphasis on black women so as to tackle the bulk of the problem.

Bush-Baskette, Stephanie. Misguided Justice: The War on Drugs and the Incarceration of Black Women . Bloomington, IN: Universe, Inc, 2010. Print.

Chesney-Lind, Meda. Girls, Women, and Crime: Selected Readings . London [u.a.: SAGE, 2004. Print.

Gartner, Rosemary, and Candace Kruttschnitt. Marking Time in the Golden State: Women’s Imprisonment in California . Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005. Print.

Nelson, Jennifer. Women of Color and the Reproductive Rights Movement . New York [u.a.: New York Univ. Press, 2003. Print.

Stevens, Sally J. and Harry K. Wexler. Women and Substance Abuse: Gender Transparency . New York: Routledge, 1998. Print.

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IvyPanda . "The War on Drugs and the Incarceration of Black Women." March 1, 2024. https://ivypanda.com/essays/the-war-on-drugs/.

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