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Live from the Front: Military Families and Television Coverage of War

Sat, August 11, 10:30 to 11:30am, Philadelphia Marriott Downtown, Floor: Level 5, Salon G

Abstract

A formidable dimension of war today is the ability to watch it unfold live on television or increasingly on one’s hand-held device. Some argue that if we see the realities and implications of war, the less likely we are to engage in future wars. Unfortunately, bringing wars into the living rooms has not yet seemed to abate the world’s appetite and need for war. Perhaps even more powerful is the fact that family members of service wars can watch the war as well. No research has addressed how the advancements in satellite and Internet technology have dramatically increased the ability of the media outlets and increasingly individual service members to transmit and report the war to immediate family members—spouses and children—and they react to the live televising of war. This article is based on 188 interviews with mostly Army wives from 2003 to 2008 with spouses forward deployed in either Iraq or Afghanistan. The article describes the personal experiences of spouses, children, and in some cases extended family and friends use of mass media during their loved ones’ deployments. First, a brief social history of televised war is presented. Next described are wives that viewed their husbands live between the home and war-front during the height of the invasion of Iraq known as Operation Iraqi Freedom in March of 2003. This is followed by periods and units after the wars’ initial invasion (2004 and 2008) and how television coverage waned significantly but families continued to be aware of and exposed to the role of mass media in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

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