2007 Winning Essay of Dr. Wilt Scholarship

The topic for 2007 Scholarship was-

Matthew Huberty's Essay-

A Vehicle for Influence

"You've got mail!" If a Comcast net customer signs on to his or her Internet service provider homepage, graphic news images of children missing limbs or blinded by chlorine gas and blackened, gutted automobiles, as well as headline declaring atrocities ranging from "twenty Iraqi civilians die after massive car bombing" to "U.S. soldier snaps: hurls grenade into middle of U. S. Military camp" will greet him or her. Americans cannot escape this news coverage of the current war in Iraq; it is the product of journalists accompanying troops on their pernicious missions. Pressure from the American public to develop a plan for pu7lling out of the wor-to0rn country clearly exhibits the psychosocial effect of such close reporting. While limited photojournalism was practiced during the "boy's war" of 18671-1965, the employment of more forceful reporting and intimate photography would have ensured that the American Civil War saw a much swifter and less bloody end.

To illustrate this,

................In 1862, [famous Civil War photographer Mathew] Brady shocked
................America by displaying his photographs of battlefield corpses from
................Antietam, posting a sign on the door of his New York gallery that
................read, 'The Dead of Antietam'. This exhibition marked the first time
................most people witnessed the carnage of war ("Mathew B. Brady")

By the time Brady's display went public, however, the Union and the Confederacy were already deep in the throes of malefaction. Brady's collection was too late to prevent "the 22,276 casualties form both sides made September 17, 1862, America's bloodiest single day of combat (English and Jones48). In essence, photojournalism began too late and with little effort to stop the tide of cousin slaughtering cousin.

Digging deeper, the news coverage of the war is a vehicle by which news agencies can influe4nce the opinion of the American public. By utilitarian violent images of dying troops troops and enraging headlines, journalists are making a pathos appeal. Pathos, which is "Greek for suffering or 'experince'....is often associated with emotional appeal" (A General Summary"). The most classic and heart-wrenching pathos appeal is that which plays upon the innocence of youth. "Estimates are from 10-20% of soldiers in the Civil War were 16 or younger" ("The Boy's War"). Reporters could have and should have used this reality to foster a greater antiwar sentiment.

Finally, the realization that increased news coverage of the Civil war would encouraged both sides to reach peace sooner is bolstered by the momentous impact such coverage had during the vietnam War. "Vietnam was the most covered war in history. the reports from Vietnam were plentiful and exp-licit, and they helped to turn public opinion against the war"(English and Jones 172).

Concluding this brief analysis, despite the limited photojournalism practiced during the Civil War, the utilization of more aggressive reporting and candid photography would have ensured a hastier and less carnal end to the revolting bloodshed. If current news agencies continue to pursue exhaustive campaigns for wartime reporting, perhaps wars will cease and Comcast .net and similar homepages will cover more uplifting subjects...

 

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