The free press has always posed problems for armies in time of war.
Soldiers contend that their lives depend upon their right to withhold information from the enemy.
Reporters respond that, however important the rights of soldiers, they may have to yield before the need of a free people to scrutinize the deeds of its government. At times, the conflicts that have emerged between these two opposing points of view, as in the case of the Vietnam War, have seemed almost to overshadow the world events that gave them birth. The problem shows no sign of disappearing, if only because the dangers to free societies from within and without are such that liberty itself cannot apparently exist without the presence of both a vigorous military and a largely unbridled press. If so, does a community of interests nevertheless exist between the two that subtly shapes the information we receive in press reports. Participants will be exposed to readings from classical texts, the work of modern researchers in the social sciences, unpublished government documents, a broad range of examples printed for broadcast in various media outlets, and guest speakers representing the diverse points of view under discussion.