Media During the Twilight war

[natehale1971]

Hi everyone,

Does anyone else remember an article called "Media during the Twilight War"? I use to have a copy of it, but now can't find it... Can someone point me to it?

[kato13]

This is it i think
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[natehale1971]

This is it i think
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Thank you! this is it. this is exactly what I was looking for. this will help me alot when i work on the background for 'Twilight of Innocence'

[seppun1]

Oh, thanks for alerting me about the article. The media surrounds us with everything with the television, radio and the internet. I have been very curious in how this all changed with the Twilight War.

Did the Internet have any impact with news? Would the war have accelerated the importance of the system and how it can be used? While the Internet was young (Yahoo itself was up and around by 95).

I have always been curious about movies and music and how it was effected. After the Turkey Day Massacre, I can definitely see the return of local folk music returning. It is very true that people are trying to survive after being hit by THE war. But they would also use some form of entertainment to help with the morale.

[Mohoender]

Great piece of writing Kato. Glad you had it stored somewhere. I would expect the media to evolve over time. Indeed, I can see things starting as described with almost full coverage from the West and full black out in the East.

Then, when the West will start to reduce media coverage, the Warsaw Pact my go the other way around, although still controlling things.

The West will reduce media coverage for several reasons: journalist security, need to keep some shadow on military operations and, as time goes by, need to cover their own war crimes, abuses and military failures.

For the Warsaw Pact it would be the opposite. War crimes and abuses will be dissimulated from the beginning and remain so. Military failures will remain somewhat taboo. Journalists security won't be an issue and media coverage will come from propagandists and political commissars. However, they would probably stop to hide a good part of the situation at the front. They will probably remember their WW2 experience when that proved disastrous. After several defeat and faced with the general lack of fighting spirit, they will probably abandon communist propaganda to focus on the nation again (they might do that surprisingly early). They will give more accurate reports of the situation but they will amphasize on war heroes (You should watch the movie Stalingrad). They will focus on NATO warcrimes and, after a time, you can be sure that there will be plenty.

The other problem will be the diffusion of these medias. First, they will use the entire technological array with world broadcast using satellite network, Internet, national coverage... But that won't last as access to these will become limited and much technolgical materials will be lost. Then, images will remain the norm along with radio broadcasts but at a more local level. Internet if any was available will be gone, cell phones will be out of order and direct image will be impossible to transmit directly. After that fails too, they will turn to newspaper again and very limited broadcasts. Information will become increasingly inaccurate and often outdated (it could take weeks before some news get to the diffusion media). Finally, most news will become unverified rumors on all sides. In my setting I have the Mexican-american war started because of a false news (by several US newspaper) stating that the Mexicans are killing US citizens in refugee camps (absolutely false in my case and, in fact, a made-up report by some obscure US novelist turned journalist). You'll have plenty of crazy rumors with NATO accusing the Warsaw Pact of using biological and chemical weapons on unprecedented scale. Rumors of Pact soldiers eating manflesh, burning people in furnace... Rumors within the Warsaw Pact of NATO serial killers units wreaking havoc in eastern cities and raping everyone from men and women to kids and goats...

Just let your imagination go wild.

In the past, British and French propaganda of WW1 had accused the German Imperial Army of what the Nazi will do in ww2. When the first Nazi war crimes were reported, it was discarded by many because of what was said during ww1. Sadly, this time, it was true.

Another exemple is that of the first Gulf War When Iraqi soldiers were accused in front of UN of tearing babies out of incubators and killing babies.

http://www.counterpunch.org/cohen1228.html

These happened at a time where media were in working order, what if it is not the case anymore?

[headquarters]

ahemm..

I would say that the media was never in working order - its a circus.
Over time and if circumstance allows for it -glimmers of truth come through the porridge.

all imho .

But I agree with Mo on the media strategy -its whats been done in the last big wars

-embedded journalists
-no travel zone for journalists
-the platform of truth

etc .

and on the other hand
-comical Ali

[Mohoender]

I would say that the media was never in working order - its a circus.

I entirely agree and we tend to forget one thing about medias. Their purpose is not to inform. It is to find a scoop (invented or not), bring it to us and make money out of it.

[kato13]

Great piece of writing Kato.

No no no not mine. Jason Weiser (from the DC Group) is responsible. This came from their collected works post.

[Jason Weiser]

Thanks Kato,
To answer the questions about the internet...remember, it's 1995, and from what I remember of the WWW days, most of us weren't getting our news from the internet. Dial-up was still king, and as the war heated up, I could see the authorities in many of the combatants requisitioning phone lines for essential services. Britain had such a plan in place, The US did not as far as I can find, but might implement one once the November strikes occur.

Mo, I think I address your comments in the article. Simply put, as things break down, and satellites and undersea cable become targets, then the story's going to be damned difficult to get out, and the military's going to prioritize it's own traffic on it's surviving commo assets, and this is before the nuclear phases. Censorship becomes quid pro quo..want to get the story out? Fine, but you play by our rules.

[Mohoender]

Thanks Kato,

Oops, I have not made myself clear (two nights with too little sleep must explain this). I was saying thanks to kato for having kept itbsomewhere and dig it out. Now, I thank the author as well: thanks Jason.

[Legbreaker]

Dial-up was still king...

And bulletin boards were still very common. The internet may have existed, but it was still very much in it's infancy.

[Olefin]

There definitely will still be operable radio stations and the like still on the air - which by the way is canon (i.e. Urban Guerrilla) and you will see people with battery powered radios and the like still able to pick up the signals. Also in areas with electricity you may even have functional tv stations - think the area around Colorado Springs (nuclear power plant), France and Belgium (damaged but still functional and modern societies), most likely military radio still on the air in the Middle East and Kenya where the US forces still have fuel and power

And there may also be figures that are like the woman in Fear the Walking Dead or the biographer in World War Z who are going around getting people's stories because thats what they do and someone has to pass down what happened

You could see intact radio stations (whatever their size) also doing things like telling people how to survive as well - i.e. how to find out if water or food is contaminated, how to butcher an animal or make their own medicines using folk recipes, etc.. - as well as also playing old songs and propaganda for whoever controls the area they are in