A Look at American News Coverage and Wars

News reporters have covered wars, as long as there have been newspapers and other vehicles to distribute the news through. As news gathering techniques advanced, war coverage was in full effect for the Civil War, the Spanish-American War, and World Wars I and II, Vietnam, and Iraq. The coverage, of course, was very different as these wars took place at different points in history, but the point of this coverage was always to simply make Americans aware of what was going on, since they could not be at the place where the war was taking place. Also, the lower class and even middle class people weren't involved in society in a way that would keep them up to date with what was going on at all times. They relied on these reporters to do their job and provide Americans with coverage of the war.

The Civil War was an important part of the advancement of war coverage, because it was one of the first wars that took advantage of the invention of the telegraph; Even if this new invention was a costly one to use at first. The news was now so up to date and detailed, that newspaper circulation flourished. Reporters were now braving the battle lines and reporting from within the heart of the war, risking their lives to cover the news. Newspapers were also including sketches that were created from within the war, as well as photographs, providing actual pictures to the public that showed what war was really like. The Civil War is known for being the most photographed war in history (Sloan 159).