Covering Colonial War

Abstract

Abstract News about counterinsurgency was less a steady stream of propaganda than a fractured field of ideologies and pressures. The paradox of counterinsurgency reporting was that, in order to justify the brutality of counterinsurgency, it was sometimes necessary to draw attention to it. The irony was that codes and standards designed to enforce neutrality in journalism actually favored war and empire. When journalists decided against making violence the story, it was not because professional strictures fell apart on the front lines, but precisely because they remained in force. Many details about brutality were seen and heard by reporters but either kept from the public or undermined with conflicting information.