Question

Should the armed services have to answer to CNN or any other news organization? Should the media’s powers be restricted during wartime? Can the media ever represent a threat to a country’s national security?

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Answer 1

Everyone is answerable to news organization as long as their actions are influencing any mass or community in the country but when it comes to armed forces it depends upon the situation if we are in a warlike situation it is better not to disturb them. they should be answering limited number of questions which are extremely necessary.

Historically, the answer is, it depends. Despite the first amendment, during the Civil War, the military often kept reporters off the battlefields. Fifty years later, when the U.S. entered the First World War, the military took control of all radio communications and censored all photographs. Then Congress passed the Espionage and Sedition Acts, making it illegal to publish anything disrespectful to the government, the flag or the uniforms of American troops. By the end of the war's first year, 75 U.S. newspapers had lost their mailing privileges or been forced to change their editorial positions. World War II brought the creation of a military office of censorship. If the press wanted access, they had to apply for credentials from the office, which meant they had to play ball with the military.

Well the media can sometimes be dangerous to national security I will explain with the help of an example the war of Vietnam itself spiraled out of control, restrictions on the press became increasingly lax. As the anti-war movement grew at home, the American press began to question the war and air their concerns on the nightly news. From a PR standpoint, Vietnam was a fiasco. In the wars that followed, the government put a much tighter rein on the press. For example, both gulf wars have had a tremendous amount of press coverage, but critics fault the media for being more managed by the military than ever before.

This deal kept stories like the creation of the a-bomb out of the press until after the war.