AllMovie

The contentious nexus of war and journalism serves as the focus of this documentary exploring the evolution of war reportage in the era of a free press and spreading democracy. From Caesar's accounts of Rome's wars in Gaul to the firsthand accounts of Napoleon and Winston Churchill, it was soldier scribes who originally assumed the responsibility of relaying the action on the battlefield. As journalism began to evolve, however, civilian reporters offered a unique perspective on battle that radically altered common perception of combat. In this film, the viewer is taken all the way back to the Civil War to inspect Matthew Brady's disturbing images before moving into modern times to explore the scripted briefings that took place during the first Gulf War and speak with the "embedded" reporters who were there to cover the second. In the process, the stories of such noted pioneers as William Russell and Walter Cronkite highlight just how drastically war coverage has changed throughout the centuries.