It is important to consider what happens when the media have left a war zone. The long-term impacts such as brutalisation of soldiers, psychological trauma of victims and starvation will very often not be reported. There may be subtle ways in which the news is manipulated - either consciously or unconsciously. Journalists are also more likely to use 'sound-bites' and stereotypes than complex information which is more accurate and balanced. The military and governments themselves also manipulate or censor the media and withhold or 'distort' information, using methods such as controlled access.
Reasons given are national security, diplomacy and the interests of the public or state.
Images which are chosen to accompany news stories also influence us. Graphic pictures of war showing death and destruction were rarely seen in the Gulf War, which some think is a good thing and others not. They are more interested in explosions than the consequences of explosions. During the Vietnam war in the 1960s, television coverage had a reverse effect to what the US government wanted. People saw explicit pictures of the horrors of modern warfare for the first time and public opinion changed, eventually contributing to the US pulling out from Vietnam.