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History of War Journalism

With the help of retired Navy Capt. Brayton Harris, who has written about the history of war reporting, NPR's Robert Siegel traces the ever-increasing speed with which news reports from the frontlines have been brought to the public. This week, Defense Sec. Donald Rumsfeld commented on the difference between today's satellite pictures of battle and the newsreels of World War II, which presented the week's news, not the moment's action. We follow war-reporting history from the Mexican War through the 1991 Gulf War.

Copyright 2003 NPR

Prior to his retirement, Robert Siegel was the senior host of NPR's award-winning evening newsmagazine All Things Considered. With 40 years of experience working in radio news, Siegel hosted the country's most-listened-to, afternoon-drive-time news radio program and reported on stories and happenings all over the globe, and reported from a variety of locations across Europe, the Middle East, North Africa, and Asia. He signed off in his final broadcast of All Things Considered on January 5, 2018.