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University of Colorado at Denver
REPORTING IN THE NON-FREE PRESS
(THE CENSORSHIP PROCEDURES IMPOSED BY THE DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE DURING THE PERSIAN GULF WAR AND THE CONSTITUTIONALITY BEHIND THEM)* Troy S. KnappFundamentals of Mass Communications1000-1200 T/RDr. Cheryl Pawlowski July 1, 1993
* The terms "press" and "media" are used interchangeably throughout this paper. "Pressrestrictions" include restrictions on all form of media coverage, including television, radio, wireservice, photography, and print.
During the Persian Gulf War, the Pentagon imposed the tightest re-strictions on battlefield press coverage in American military history.
Theydid this through two techniques; primarily, through the use of pre-publication review by subjecting all news gathered to a security reviewbefore it could be published, and secondarily by restricting media access tothe battlefield through the use of press pools.
This censorship unarguablymade the Persian Gulf war the most undercovered conflict in Americanmilitary history.
Despite the claim of the unconstitutionality of these pressrestrictions, they are not patently unreasonable considering both the caselaw behind them and the virtual revolution in warfare and communicationstechnology in the past few years.
Therefore, this paper will assert that thepress restrictions placed upon the media during the Persian Gulf war
didnot
violate the First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States of America. The First Amendment states:Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion,or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech,
or of the press
, or of the right of the people peaceable to as-semble and to petition the government for a redress of theirgrievances.
The founding fathers deemed the freedom of the press so important theyguaranteed its freedom in the First Amendment. However, implied in this
1
Thomas B. Rosenstiel, Gulf War No Model for Coverage, Media Tell Pentagon,Los Angles Times, July 1, 1991
2
Michelle D. Boydston, Press Censorship and Access Restrictions During thePersian Gulf War: A First Amendment Analysis, Loyola of Los Angles Law Review, vol.25, no. 3 (Loyola Press, 1992) pg. 1073
3
Ibid. p. 1074.
4
Matthew J. Jacobs, Assessing the Constitutionality of Press Restrictions in thePersian Gulf War, Stanford Law Review, vol 44, no. 3 (Stanford Press, Stanford Ca.,1992) p. 675.
5
United States Constitution's First Amendment, written Sep, 25 1789, ratified1791, (italics added)
guarantee is the limited right of media personnel to access information. This implication was taken to its extreme during the Persian Gulf War whenpress access was limited through pre-publication review and the use of reporting pools. The pre-publication review required all news reports to be screenedby military censors prior to their release.
This action angered the pressbecause it interfered with their ability to disseminate their stories once theywere attained.
The Pentagon, however, insisted that the screening of allnews stories was necessary to ensure the operational security of Americanmilitary forces.
While the Department of Defense guidelines expresslystate that news stories will not be reviewed for their "potential to expresscriticism or cause embarrassment"
many journalists were concerned aboutthe possibility of governmental abuse.
The primary critics of pre-publication review claim that the security review constitutes prior restraintand is therefore unconstitutional. Two things need to be said about theprior restraint exhibited during the Gulf War; primarily, in some narrowlydefined instances it has been found to be constitutional, and secondarily,the United States media has demonstrated in the past that it can not beself policing in matters dealing with national security.In 1931 the United States Supreme Court issued an opinion on theconstitutionality of prior restraints relating to military related information in
6
Karl T. Olson, The Constitutionality of Department of Defense PressRestrictions on Wartime Corespondents Covering the Gulf War, Drake Law Review,vol. 41, no. 3 (Drake University Law School Press, 1992) p. 553
7
Ibid.
8
Ibid.
9
For a complete list of
Department of Defense Guidelines for News Media
seeAppendix A.
10
Olsen, p.534.
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