Full Spectrum Media - Military Journalism and the Canadian Forces

by Scott Valentine
November, 2006
Introduction
The Canadian Armed Forces (CF) is in a state of transition heavily influenced by
a continuum of events beginning with the 1992 United Nations mission to Bosnia
and extending through the current NATO mission in Afghanistan.
This broad and complex transition is characterized by a shift from traditional c
ombat capabilities (clear missions on a defined battlefield with a recognizable
enemy), to full spectrum mission capabilities (simultaneous humanitarian, securi
ty and combat operations in urban and rural theaters that include civilians, non
-governmental organizations, civilian authorities and media personnel.)
In 1999, General Charles C. Krulak, Commandant of the U.S. Marine Corps, coined
the phrase the three block war to describe the complex range of challenges lik
ely to be faced by soldiers on the modern battlefield. In three contiguous city
blocks, soldiers may be required to conduct full scale military action, peacekee
ping operations and humanitarian relief.
Of paramount importance in the CF developing full spectrum operational maturity
is the emergence of a new class of soldier, one that is trained and equipped to
recognize and react to each of the three blocks; the so-called strategic corpora
l.
According to Krulak,
Success or failure will rest, increasingly, with the individual on the ground --
and with his or her ability to make the right decision, at the right time, whil
e under extreme duress These decisions will be subject to the harsh scrutiny of
both the media and the court of public opinion.
Cultivating the appropriate resources and training to give every Canadian soldie
r the strategic corporal skill-set may well be the greatest challenge the CF fac
es in its transition to full spectrum capabilities. To be successful, this new s
tyle of soldier must be more than warrior, more than peacekeeper, more than huma
nitarian the strategic corporal must also be a powerful tactical weapon in the
CFs public affairs arsenal.
In the modern age of communications, every message relayed at home or abroad by
a member of the CF carries with it implications and opportunities. And with the
omnipresent nature of domestic and international media in modern operational the
atres it is no exaggeration to say that the world is watching and listening to e
verything the Canadian soldier says and does.
In short, our soldiers are now also spokespeople and statesmen.
To this end, the CF has introduced several new elements to its Public Affairs st
rategy, many of which incorporate journalists into the process of developing med
ia capabilities within the ranks of the strategic corporal:
i. Media play Beginning in 2006, the CF began contracting journalism students
from across Canada to role-play embedded and unilateral media during military ex
ercises. Media players embed with platoons, participate in after action reviews,
conduct press conferences and produce content within the context of exercises.
The 2006 session was highlighted by the participation of 10 Ryerson University j
ournalism students at Vigilant Guardian 2006, the CFs largest military exercise
of the year;
ii. Sponsored education - The Canadian Defence & Foreign Affairs Institute (CDFA
I), in partnership with the Centre for Military and Strategic Studies (CMSS) at
the University of Calgary (UofC), sponsors a scholarship for 12 students to atte
nd a nine-day certificate course on military journalism and the Canadian Armed F
orces. The course includes a combination of media-military theory in a classroom
setting, coupled with field visits to Armed Forces regular force and reserve un
its;
iii. Development of internal journalistic capabilities - Ivana Previsic, a media
trainer who worked with NATO in Bosnia, recently won a contract to teach soldie
rs how to become news broadcasters. Soldiers will be taught "all the broadcast j
ournalist skills required from broadcast law and ethics, to style guide, bulleti
n presentation, news format construction, manufacture and production of package
s , voicers , voxpops , features and Talk Shows ."
iv. CF Personnel media training From Joint Task Force HQ on Parliament Hill to
the enlisted barracks at CFB Meaford, Canadian soldiers of all ranks and milita
ry occupations are being trained in the art of dealing with media. To quote Capt
ain Alex Peterson, public affairs officer of CFs 31 Brigade, Imagine telling a
CEO that each of their 60,000 employees, by law, had to be freely accessible to
the media. Imagine the logistics of training every one of those people There
is no more publicly accessible institution in this country than the Canadian Arm
ed Forces.
Simply put, the CF is very cognizant of the role of media as a messaging agent a
nd influencer of public opinion, both in-theatre and on the home front, and is
acting strategically to incorporate journalists embedded and unilateral int
o the broader continuum of full spectrum operations.
The difficulty for Canadian journalists lay in balancing this unprecedented leve
l of access to CF missions and personnel against the consumers right to know, o
ur own professional ethics against the very real requirement of operational secu
rity.
In the CF world, journalism and media relations falls under the realm of Public
Affairs (PA) a competency attached to authority levels stretching from the Dep
artment of National Defense (DND) through the full structure of military divisio
n (army, navy and air force), land force area, brigade and unit.
PA encompasses activities related to informing internal and external audiences.
It includes research and analysis, communications advice and planning, and the d
elivery of information programs. In the broader context, PA functions as part of
Information Operations.
Information Operations can be portrayed, in the context of a CF operation, as se
lected enablers chosen from the full spectrum available. Current enablers includ
e Public Affairs (PA), Civil Military Cooperation (CIMIC), Psychological Operati
ons (PSYOPS), Electronic Warfare (EW), Operations Security (OPSEC), Destruction
(DEST), Deception (DECP), and Computer Network Operations (CNO) PA activities
are complementary with, yet distinct from, other components of IO.
Though PA does not fall under the same management as its nearest competencies PS
YOPS (planned activities designed to influence attitudes and behaviours, affecti
ng the achievement of political and military objectives) and INT (activities to
acquire, analyze and disseminate information in support of military objectives),
the three are linked.
It is not uncommon for CF personnel to flow to and from PA, PSYOPS and INT units
over the course of their career development. In fact, the CFs recruiting websi
te identifies a background in journalism as a desirable attribute for not only P
A staff, but also for those who wish to pursue a career in either PSYOPS or INT.
But if journalistic skill is warmly welcomed in some professions of the modern
CF, the presence of the external media is still a source of annoyance for some o
f the old guard of CF soldiers.
This lingering animosity towards journalists is the result of a longstanding cul
ture of secrecy and suspicion of the media (much of which is well-founded), best
examined in the context of historical interaction.
During the time of the Second World War, CBC Radio was most Canadians best sour
ce of news and information about their loved ones fighting overseas. Luminary wa
r correspondents like Matthew Halton wore camouflage, slept in the trenches and
often carried weapons of their own, making these early embeds as much a part of
the CF culture as they were observers of it. Given the limited nature of electro
nic communications in the early 1940s, journalists were in a position of extrao
rdinary importance and were regarded by troops and the Canadian audience alike a
s a critical link between the frontlines and the home front. This symbiotic rela
tionship of trust and reliance between the CF and journalists was much the norm
through Canadas military involvements in the pre-internet age.
By 1992 however, the world had entered the information age. And when Canadian tr
oops arrived in Somalia as part of Operation Deliverance, the media was already
entrenched both physically and mentally in that African nations state of rebell
ion. The spirit of shared interest that had typified CF / media relations in the
past was replaced by a culture of suspicion and antagonism. Many within the CF
who served in Somalia believe that journalists covering that conflict were more
interested in fulfilling a liberal anti-military bias than in telling the whole
truth of a very complex and difficult military mission and the wounds are deep.
The public outrage and call for action generated as a result of the media airing
of the Somalia torture pictures and the ensuing Airborne Regiment hazing video
were both quick and powerful. The Government had no choice but to set up a forma
l inquiry to examine these incidents. Furthermore, the strong public reaction ge
nerated by the Somalia incident inevitably contributed to the disbanding of the
Canadian Airborne Regiment and the resignation of senior officers.
A similar sense of malaise and distrust towards the media is evident in soldiers
who served in Bosnia, a conflict in which CF personnel were under direct UN ord
er not to interfere but were still held answerable by the mass media for atrocit
ies taking place.
The generation of soldier that guarded gates in Somalia and conducted checkpoint
s in Bosnia are today the officers and commanders of the CF. They have not forgo
tten the severe and polarizing nature of media coverage received in the past and
many are justifiably reluctant to accept the norm of expansive journalistic acc
ess inherent in full spectrum operations.
More worryingly for modern journalists, is that this same generation of CF perso
nnel is often tasked with playing the role of instructor and mentor to younger t
roops preparing for deployment on the NATO mission to Afghanistan. In the same w
ay new recruits look to their more seasoned peers to learn the essentials of clo
se-quarters combat, they also absorb legacy attitudes towards the media which do
not correspond to the broader scope of the CFs full spectrum Afghanistan missi
on. This conundrum of cultivating tactical battle readiness vs. full spectrum mi
ssion awareness may be the largest stumbling block in the CFs ability to execut
e its modern PA strategy.
But the need to educate personnel and foster acceptance of an alien culture does
not rest on the military alone. Journalists as a profession must become signifi
cantly better versed in the language, culture and norms of the CF if we are to e
xecute our own mandate as agents of full spectrum media.
The prerequisites for journalists that decide to undertake the challenge and res
ponsibility of full spectrum coverage are:
i. An awareness of common purpose;
ii. Knowledge of military policy and procedure and;
iii. For those seeking to embed with troops, conditioning of body, mind and coun
tenance.
It begins with military and media people understanding what we have in common.
As much as the CF prides itself on being a protector of Canadas freedom, the me
dia too is a champion of freedoms; those of expression and opinion. The journali
st and the soldier consider many of the same qualities to be important in their
respective professions: initiative, responsibility, professionalism, dedication,
efficiency, teamwork, delegation of authority, self-discipline, forward plannin
g and flexibility.
In Canada, soldiers and journalists voluntarily enter their professions, often w
ith a similar sense of purpose to do some good in what we perceive of as a troub
led world. These parallel streams of purpose create the opportunity for dual ass
imilation of tasks and means.
The challenge then is not to build a new foundation of understanding between the
military and journalists, but to fill in the existing cracks often caused by sh
eer ignorance. The perception of the medias lack of knowledge of military affai
rs is pervasive in both cultures:
Because inaccuracies and distortions are often the result of a lack of knowledg
e about the military, rather than misrepresentation ... the defence community ha
(s) the obligation to educate the media and, through them, the Canadian public a
bout the complexities of the military profession in the modern era.
"The main reasons for the militarys mistrust of the media are the lack of under
-standing on the role of the press, coupled with ignorance of some of the mechan
ical constraints facing journalists."
One difficulty is that the media have little or no memory. War correspondents h
ave short working lives and there is no tradition or means for passing on their
knowledge and experience. The military, on the other hand, is an institution and
goes on forever.
To begin with, the full spectrum journalist must understand that in military ope
rations, security, both operational and personal, is the single most important f
actor that drives decisions of command. Simply, the Canadian soldiers first job
to take care of themselves and the soldier beside them. A failure to grasp the
provisos of this basic concept of military culture will inevitably alienate and
stymie even the most experienced and well-intended journalist attempting to oper
ate in a full spectrum theatre. For this reason, media-play in full spectrum mil
itary exercises is a vital tool for fostering mutual understanding and a powerfu
l method for building trust and symbiosis between journalists and soldiers that
may one day find themselves on presence patrol together in the south of Kandahar
.
Scenario based military exercises are the development cornerstone of the strateg
ic corporal. Preparation for Fallujah was based on three block war concepts emph
asizing the importance of scenario-based training, the ability to transition bet
ween high and low intensity operations, and presence of media. Moreover, the CF
has been actively engaging journalists, contracted and independent, as embedded
and unilateral media in the course of military exercises since early 2006.
The CFs media-play program substantially developed out of LFCAs 32 Brigade h
as been hailed by senior CF commanders as a significant step-forward in the army
s full spectrum operations training package.
Lieutenant-General Andrew B. Leslie, commander of the Canadian army, has partici
pated directly in media-play within the context of military exercises and called
the continued existence and expansion of the media-play program a key training
element for both military personnel and journalists who would cover full spect
rum operations.
In a media-play environment, the exercise is live 24 hours a day for both the st
rategic corporal and full spectrum journalist, creating a world of interaction b
etween military and media where education of the others ways and means becomes
an organic and cyclical process. As the journalist learns to communicate and nav
igate in the military way so does the strategic corporal learn to speak and pres
ent in a media friendly manner.
The journalist learns to march in a secure formation, communicate under rules of
light and sound security, find cover, and identify weapons, vehicles and insign
ia. The journalist also absorbs the unique and complex language of military cult
ure, replete with hundreds of acronyms, euphemisms and anachronisms. There is al
so the requirement to learn practical soldiering skills necessary to success in
an embedded environment: proper loading and balancing of a pack, preparation of
field rations, application of first aid, movement in secure formations, the corr
ect method for mounting and dismounting armoured vehicles, helicopters etc. Furt
her, by participating in After Action Reviews (AARs) of completed scenarios, th
e journalist is exposed to tactical methods of full spectrum operations in the c
ontext of daily soldiering tasks such as cordon and search operations, vehicle c
heck points, presence patrols, detainment and battle tactics.
The strategic corporal learns to account for the presence of journalists, their
cameras and microphones in the context of full spectrum operations. Proper techn
iques for identifying and validating journalists in a confused theatre of operat
ions are put to practical test. The strategic corporal also learns the ins and o
uts disseminating real time information in an operationally secure environment.
Interview and presentation skills in sit-down, roadside, scrum and sometimes pre
ss conference environments are also honed. Perhaps most importantly, the strateg
ic corporal gains a greater grasp of overall presentation and communication skil
ls that are of great benefit in their daily interaction with locals, village eld
ers, NGOs and others who are a part of the full spectrum operational landscape.
In essence then, media play offers the first, last and only junction at which th
e strategic corporal and full spectrum journalist can gather, interact and matur
e within the perspective of their separate but converging tasks inside the three
block war. No firing range, no classroom and no newsroom can hope to replicate
this level of cultural assimilation or shared understanding of purpose. And it i
s that understanding which breeds camaraderie, trust and mutual respect between
the military and media.
But as this trust grows and the full spectrum journalists situational awareness
in the operational theatre deepens, he or she runs the risk of losing detachmen
t and professional objectivity.
Full spectrum operations are intrinsically dramatic.
Rebuilding efforts, vehicle checkpoints and dawn raids all present great opportu
nities for conflict. Military characters are intense, colourful and quotable. Th
e landscapes of war stark, brilliant and terrifying. These elements combine to c
reate an extraordinary journalistic environment where every person and every eve
nt is newsworthy; a storytellers dream-come-true.
So, in a world where every person and every event is a story, how does the full
spectrum journalist safeguard against the tendency to sensationalize or skew cov
erage?
Johan Galtang, a professor of peace studies and director of Transcend a peace
and development network headquartered in Cambridge, MA - has studied ways in whi
ch the media often goes wrong in covering violence in war. Some of Galtangs fin
dings are particularly salient to the current CF mission in Afghanistan. Among t
hem:
Dualism or reducing the number of parties in a conflict to two, when often mor
e are involved;
Manicheanism or portraying one side as good and demonizing the other as "evil"
;
Excluding and omitting the bereaved, thus never explaining why there are acts
of revenge and spirals of violence;
Failure to explore the goals of outside interventionists, especially big power
s;
Omitting reconciliation: conflicts tend to reemerge if attention is not paid t
o efforts to heal fractured societies. When news about attempts to resolve confl
icts are absent, fatalism is reinforced.
In addition to the trap of skewing coverage in order to represent the efforts an
d morality of the home force in a favourable light, the full spectrum journali
st must also be aware of their own role as a collector and conduit of informatio
n that has the potential to affect the outcome of conflicts. This is true of jou
rnalists working in both an embedded and unilateral capacity.
During the Falklands war, with the British forces mustered in a superior positio
n for a surpise attack on the Argentenian position at Goose Green, an ambitious
BBC World Service reporter carelessly leaked news of the attack before it happen
ed. Naturally, the Argentinans were monitoring British radio. Because of this ga
ffe the Argentinan force had time to adjust their formation and gun positions. B
ritish forces eventually took Goose Green but not until 17 British and 55 Argent
ine soldiers had been killed.
In the Goose Green example an embedded journalist commits an error and lives are
lost as a result. In the case of William Leonardo Laurence, the American Pulitz
er Prize winning Second World War journalist, a reporter allows himself to be co
mpromised by a misguided sense of personal purpose.
For four months, while still reporting for the Times, Laurence had been writing
press releases for the military explaining the atomic weapons program; he also w
rote statements for President Harry Truman and Secretary of War Henry L. Stimson
. He was rewarded by being given a seat on the plane that dropped the bomb on Na
gasaki, an experience that he described in the Times with religious awe Lauren
ce had a front-page story in the Times disputing the notion that radiation sickn
ess was killing people. His news story included this remarkable commentary: "The
Japanese are still continuing their propaganda aimed at creating the impression
that we won the war unfairly, and thus attempting to create sympathy for themse
lves the Japanese described symptoms that did not ring true."
In both instances the journalist allowed their unique frontline access to events
to influence coverage. In the case of Goose Green, lives were lost. And, though
 Laurence was lauded in his own time, it is clear today that his journalistic in
tegrity was seriously compromised and he will forever have an asterisk beside hi
s name in the history books.
Unilateral full spectrum journalists face their own unique challenges. As a fre
e agent in the theatre of war, unilaterals sacrifice personal security and ease
of access for the freedom to roam and chase stories across lines of division. I
n doing so, unilaterals often gain access to enemy force intelligence. In the Af
ghanistan campaign, this style of journalism is typified by photos of Taliban fi
ghters and stories that present the ideological perspective of the other, ofte
n in a menacing narrative tone.
But when a unilateral knows who the enemy is, where to find them and perhaps a l
ittle about how they fight, what is the requirement, if any, to share that infor
mation with other military forces? Does a full spectrum unilateral journalist ha
ve an ethical obligation beyond the norms of their profession to report to the C
F when they learn of a potential enemy combatants location in Kandahar? What ab
out the inverse: is there a risk that in the pursuit of a story on the daily lif
e of Taliban fighters a unilateral might leak information on CF tactics? When so
meone sticks a gun in your face and says Tell me everything you know or Ill ki
ll you, does the unilateral journalist even have a choice?
The slightest indiscretion by any journalist can leave us labeled as backers of
one side or the other, jeopardizing not only our ability to work, but our lives
A reporter in a war zone, always walking a tightrope between opposing sides,
is forced at times to give information to warring parties When our luck runs o
ut, the only option is the truth.
Sometimes, when a journalists job intersects with a moment of truth in the thea
tre of warfare, the result is that the journalist becomes iconic of the event an
d a war correspondent celebrity is born.
Arthur Kent has been a Middle East correspondent since 1980. But it wasnt until
1991, when he reported live on-air during an Iraqi Scud missile attack, that he
gained celebrity as the Scud Stud. From that point forward Kent became as muc
h a part of the story of Gulf War I as he was a transmitter of it.
A more modern example of celebrity war correspondent is Kevin Sites. In November
2004, Sites became a flashpoint of controversy for one of the biggest stories o
f the current Iraqi war, when as an NBC News correspondent he videotaped a U.S.
Marine shooting a wounded Iraqi insurgent in a Fallujah mosque. After the video
s airing, Sites was both praised as a journalist willing to reveal the harsh rea
lities of war - and vilified as a traitor to both the Marine unit in which he wa
s embedded and to his country. Sites seized on his instant fame to propel himsel
f into a profile position with Yahoo, which quickly dubbed and promoted him as a
pioneer and one of the worlds most respected journalists.
In the case of both Sites and Kent the cult of personality became bigger than th
e stories they were covering. So, while the journalism may be good, the journali
st is front and centre; a slippery slope for those in a profession built on the
principle of objectivity.
Finally, while the ethical complications of celebrity journalism are limited to
a select few, the potential for a full spectrum journalist to be engaged by the
CF or any other military force in the broader scope of its mission is very real.
As has been noted, journalists possess many of the skills sought after by the C
F in several of its military occupations.
The ability to investigate, interview, clarify and shape communications strategi
es are highly prized in CF information operations, particularly PSYOPS, INT and
CIMIC. But more importantly the journalists natural tendency to keep their eyes
and ears open, look for angles, follow a sequence of events are react quickly a
nd decisively to stimuli are analogous to the profile of the strategic corporal,
the central figure in the CFs transition to full spectrum capability. While th
is similarity of cognitive model helps to create extraordinary opportunities for
the future of military journalism in Canada, so too will the evolution of full
spectrum journalism present a continuing risk of cross-contamination.
It seems natural that at some point the CF will seek to use the presence of jour
nalists in the full spectrum environment to the benefit of its broader mission.
Go forward, the ability of the strategic corporal and full spectrum journalist t
o live and work together as dependent players in a modern conflict theatre, whil
e maintaining an independence of professional purpose, will be greatly and frequ
ently tested. For the partnership to prosper the pair must remain focused on the
ir shared belief that distress, fear and chaos should be exposed and confronted
without quarter. In the three block war, there is plenty of room for both soldie
rs and journalists to fight for what they believe in.
CF personnel will always bear the duty of combat but it is by working together t
hat the strategic corporal and full spectrum journalist can best win the battle
for hearts and minds.