The military�s fear of the news media

Richard Moleofe | Friday June 17, 2016 14:21

My media and military experiences are unique to both industries and I believe I have a big role to help bridge the existing divide. Both institutions are very critical for the existence and sustenance of democracy. The state has the absolute monopoly to the use of force through the military and the police and it is the media that informs the public about the goings on inside the state machinery called government. Whenever I write I always have to make an empirical distinction between the state and government because the two are not the same as we are often made to believe.

The media–military relations are often characterised by a clash of ideas and traditions. S.F Crozier writes; “There can be few professions more ready to misunderstand each other than journalists and soldiers.” This misunderstanding originates from the thought that news organisations are always motivated by profits in the manner they report while the military always claims to be motivated by service to country in keeping everything in their path secret.

I would like to say that there is an element of truth in both claims and for that reason, there is need to identify areas of improvement. I think sometimes the media fails to understand the constraints placed on commanders by their insistence in getting something to report on. On the other hand, the military goes to great lengths to frustrate the media.

The media by nature works with deadlines. As for our military, responding to media questionnaires on time is never their priority. In fact they have resorted to frustrating the news media through such delays. In the quest to be first to publish the story, the media ends up publishing half cooked stories full of holes in as far as facts are concerned. Often the media is pushed into this tight corner.

A questionnaire is often a way of probing for facts on the story. And if someone at the end of the line decides to keep it to themselves, then the media has a legitimate right to go ahead with whatever distorted information they may be having. In other instances where the media gets answers, they come as shallow as they can be. This has reinforced the legacy of mistrust on the part of the media.  

The military is often seen as restricting information more to protect themselves and their reputation than protecting national security. It is often a war of egos between the media and military.  But the media and the military have a longstanding common tradition that goes as far back as the Bible times. At times when you read the Bible you feel like you are reading a book about the art of war rather than a spiritual toolkit.  The classical Greek writers glorified war so much that young men literally queued up to enlist for military service. During the Vietnam War, the United States government was so eager to get the services of the media to get young men enlisting to go and fight a war they did not understand. Similarly during World War 2, the US took a ride on the media hype to get the nation on their side.

Naturally the military has that unfounded fear of bad stories. This is what gives generals and their public relations officers sleepless nights. During Exercise Matsubutsubu of 2007, a medical emergency evacuation was staged at the Shoshong firing ranges. In that scenario a badly injured soldier was to be evacuated by helicopter for medical attention in Gaborone.

The patient had dummy intestines hanging by his side with fake blood dripping from a terrible wound on his belly. The media was drawn to the attention of this make believe sight. Major General Masire who was the Deputy Commander at the time did not hide his disappointment at the actions of his troops who allowed the media to see such a terrible accident. It is true that generals always have upper most in their minds, the reputation of their institutions.

It was during the preparations of this exercise that the commanders made it clear that no soldier would be allowed any form of interaction with the media. The Public Relations Office was burdened with answering questions from all areas of the military. The military in such an exercise would be having all arms of service at play and they would vary from artillery soldiers to airmen.  Not allowing them to express themselves according to their knowledge and experience is a serious constrain.

If only the military around the world could understand the purpose for which the news media exists, then the fear and misunderstanding would dissipate. In the understanding that the pen is mightier than the gun, it is upon the military to proactively engage the media for a perfect partnership. Across Africa, there is no shortage of stories that exemplify the enmity between the media and the military. Journalists are jailed, beaten and often killed for reporting the truth.

Journalists have become an endangered species second only to the African rhino. With Eritrea topping the list, it is here that the military is thriving like nowhere else in the continent. In fact the government of Eritrea has done everything they can do to turn that country into a barracks through the current conscription laws.

The military always has the tendency to be oppressive and in a democracy there are only two institutions that can keep it in check, and that is Parliament and the media. In the event where Parliament has gone to sleep like in this country, our last line of defence is the media.