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00-Tumber-Prelims.qxd 3/14/2006 2:59 PM Page i Journalists Under Fire 00-Tumber-Prelims.qxd 3/14/2006 2:59 PM Page ii 00-Tumber-Prelims.qxd 3/14/2006 2:59 PM Page iii Journalists Under Fire Information War and Journalistic Practices Howard Tumber and Frank Webster SAGE Publications London ●●Thousand Oaks New Delhi 00-Tumber-Prelims.qxd 3/14/2006 2:59 PM Page iv © Howard Tumber and Frank Webster 2006 First published 2006 Apart from any fair dealing for the purposes of research or private study, or criticism or review, as permitted under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988, this publication may be reproduced, stored or transmitted in any form, or by any means, only with the prior permission in writing of the publishers, or in the case of reprographic reproduction, in accordance with the terms of licences issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency. Enquiries concerning reproduction outside those terms should be sent to the publishers. SAGE Publications Ltd 1 Oliver’s Yard 55 City Road London EC1Y 1SP SAGE Publications Inc. 2455 Teller Road Thousand Oaks, California 91320 SAGE Publications India Pvt Ltd B-42, Panchsheel Enclave Post Box 4109 New Delhi 110 017 British Library Cataloguing in Publication data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library ISBN-10 1-4129-2406-5 ISBN-13 978-1-4129-2406-1 ISBN-10 1-4129-2407-3 (pbk) ISBN-13 978-1-4129-2407-8 Library of Congress Control Number available Typeset by C&M Digitals (P) Ltd., Chennai, India Printed in Great Britain by Athenaeum Press, Gateshead Printed on paper from sustainable resources 00-Tumber-Prelims.qxd 3/14/2006 2:59 PM Page v CONTENTS Acknowledgements vi 1 Introduction: a New Kind of War 1 Part I Information War 9 2 War in the Information Age 11 3 From Industrial War to Information War 28 4 American Exceptionalism 45 Part II Frontline Journalism 59 5 Who they are and why they do it 61 6 On Assignment 77 7 Working Relations 89 8 Fixers and Translators 106 9 Danger and Safety 116 10 Training and Protection 130 11 Coping with Fear and Danger 142 Part III Conclusion 155 12 Information War and Journalistic Practices in the 21st century 157 References 174 List of interviewees 182 Index 183 00-Tumber-Prelims.qxd 3/14/2006 2:59 PM Page vi ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This book could not have been written without the help and co-operation of many people. First, we are extremely grateful to all the journalists who so generously gave up their time to be interviewed. Second, we would like to thank those people who, in various ways, collaborated in this project: Marina Prentoulis for her very efficient research assistance, particularly her effectiveness in conducting many of the interviews; John Owen, Stuart Purvis and Mark Brayne for their stimulating advice at various stages of the project; Mark Wood for his support and in providing access to his col- leagues; Steve Nicklin and Jan Taylor for copy editing and proofing advice; Jackie Hall Transcription Services for their work on the interviews; and Chris Priest for audio recording assistance. Funding for the project came from the Economic and Social Research Council in its ‘New Security Challenges’ Research Programme. We grate- fully acknowledge the ESRC’s support and particularly that of the Director of the Programme, Stuart Croft, who provided support throughout the period of our research and also thanks to Gary Williams Senior Science Manager at the ESRC. We would like to express our thanks to our publishers Sage and in par- ticular Julia Hall, our commissioning editor for her unwavering support for the project. Thanks also to Fabienne Pedroletti our production editor, Emily Lawrence, marketing manager, Sandra Jones copy editor, Tony Sivers, proof reader and Gurdeep Mattu, assistant editor. Finally we would also like to say thank you to our colleagues in the Department of Sociology at City University for making it such a support- ive and intellectually exciting place. The International Communications and Society (ICS) group at City deserves our special gratitude. 01-Tumber-Ch01.qxd 3/14/2006 2:59 PM Page 1 1 INTRODUCTION: A NEW KIND OF WAR This book is concerned with the emergence of a new kind of war and with those who report on it. We call this Information War to highlight a number of features of the changes that have brought about and announce this transformation. The usual presumption is that Information War is about the virtuoso new weapons that have been developed through more and more sophisticated applications of digital technologies. Some commenta- tors refer to this as Cyberwar, to emphasise the use of smart missiles, command and control systems, and destructive fighter aeroplanes. Such technologies are largely the prerogative of the most affluent nations, espe- cially the USA. When activated, Information War generally covers only a few weeks of ‘hot’ battle. Such is its overwhelming superiority that forces equipped with more conventional resources quickly collapse when iden- tifiable and amenable to targeting. Regardless of the toughness of soldiers, irrespective of the size of armies, and despite fighting on familiar terrain, forces without sophisticated and robust computer communications systems and state of the art aircraft will crumble against those that possess cruise missiles, satellite guidance systems and stealth bombers. It is understandable that Information War conjures technologies, at least in the first instance, so it is hardly surprising that much writing about the Revolution in Military Affairs (RMA – see Cohen 1996) over the last decade has paid almost exclusive attention to exactly these elements. Some of this can drift into a technophile’s vision of war, one in which increas- ingly advanced technologies are all that matter. However, in this book we intend to use the concept Information War to invoke much more than technologies. For us, it also entails a series of connected social, political and economic factors. For instance, the reliance on Information War by a relatively small elite of professional ‘knowledge warriors’ such as pilots and engineers rather than infantry and Marines, means that the military presence in affluent countries has receded – there are simply fewer soldiers on the streets nowadays in sharp contrast to the days of conscription that was a require- ment of Industrial Wars. To this extent civilians in societies engaged in Information War are likely to be much less affected than they were during 01-Tumber-Ch01.qxd 3/14/2006 2:59 PM Page 2 2 INTRODUCTION: A NEW KIND OF WAR 20th-century wars, when the entire populace was often mobilised in support of the nation in struggle. War economies would then have been established, with industry and the war effort conjoined, males ordered to fight, and women sent to jobs in factories and fields. In the era of Information War, the military has adequate numbers of specialists to fly powerful aeroplanes and to operate complex missiles, and, by extension, only a few key industries such as computing and aerospace need to be closely wedded to the war capability. Information War can thereby be waged with surprisingly little direct effect on the citizens in whose name it is fought. It matters, too, that the Cold War is now over. With it has gone the great issue that enveloped most conflicts over the previous 60 years. Moreover, the Cold War ended with capitalism triumphant over communism, so the market system has expanded everywhere, against little or no serious opposition. Deregulation, private property and profit are unchallenged principles in the contemporary world; their opposites – collectivist organ- isation, central command and top-down political control – are discredited and defeated. There will be no more wars, even proxy wars, fought between these worldviews in the foreseeable future. Information War is waged at a time of increasing globalisation under market system principles, when issues of national sovereignty, while still pertinent, are decreasing in terms of priority. Defending the nation still can and does move citizens and their leaders, but the territorial motiva- tion is on the wane, particularly amongst those most capable of waging Information War. It would be surprising if it were otherwise, when indus- trial and financial affairs routinely cross borders in electronic form, when trillions of dollars move round the world on a daily basis. In these condi- tions, the most important matter is maintaining the free movement of capital, opening markets to trade, and ensuring stable conditions that encourage investment. As the territorial imperative has receded, particular concern has emerged about a new variant of terrorism. This threat, while it is concen- trated in particular places, is seen to come not from given nations that make claims against others’ land, but rather from networks of fellow believers who are united more by conviction and faith than by nation- hood and national aspiration. To these forces the enemy is not so much a place as a whole way of life, which is manifest in apostates who inhabit secularised, consumer-oriented and materialistic societies. It is hard to envisage negotiation with such faith-based terrorists since there is little tangible – in the form of land or home – to negotiate about. Even though this variant of terrorism is an important feature of the world today, there are no signs of nation states disappearing in the fore- seeable future. The nation state is the major vehicle for politics, identity and order, although it has lost some ground in recent years to larger regional and even global organisations. It perhaps needs stressing that 01-Tumber-Ch01.qxd 3/14/2006 2:59 PM Page 3 INTRODUCTION: A NEW KIND OF WAR 3 much unrest in the world comes from groups, often using terrorist methods that target civilians, with ambitions to establish their own states.

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