War Correspondents

> ***"Our mission is to speak truth to power."***
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> **-A military journalist's motto-**
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### **Main Overview**

A war correspondent is a volunteered journalist who covers stories firsthand from a warzone, most times during an undergoing active interstellar conflict. They are also sometimes referred to as *"Special Correspondents"* or *"Military Journalists"* by the common military folks men.

Their jobs bring war correspondents to the most conflict-ridden parts of the Commonwealth and it's neighboring regions undergoing military confrontations. Once there, they attempt to get close enough to action and provide written accounts, photos, or film footage. Thus, this is often considered, along with the pioneering Planetary Exploration Missions of the early 23rd. Century, one of the most dangerous form of journalism available in the Commonwealth. The lack of infrastructure on a planet makes reporting more difficult and expensive, and conflicts are also extremely deadly for war correspondents acting, for instance, in Task Force Manticore, or the main bulk of the Commonwealth's Armed Forces. On the other hand, war coverage is also the most respected and successful branch of contemporary journalism. Also, news sources greatly rise in popularity during wartime, and news organisations, like the Commonwealth's Propaganda Division (CPD), normally have their ratings increased after covering an armed conflict.

#### **History**

Although much more recognised in recent decades, war correspondents have started to appear in official military ranks somewhere during the Mid XV Century of Earth, mainly inside non combat roles of English fleet and armies alike. The most famous contributions of war correspondents to the media, however, came only two centuries later, as a fine example being Włodzimierz Kovalchuk's report of the Nomad Steppe Warrior Army of the Polish Republic in 1715, being later titled as *"The Report of the Commonwealth's Nomads"* and receiving extensive praise for the detailed accounts on life of Steppe Warriors in combat and in everyday living situations.

At the early to mid stages of 23rd. Century, most interstellar conflicts started receiving extensive coverage throughout Commonwealth's main media outlets, with even greater efforts to cover wars fought by the Commonwealth itself. Among the most recent wars, the Aramathi Liberation War was the first official interstellar conflict registered by war correspondents in a large scale, making it the first experience for journalism in space warfare for the Commonwealth.

While on the other hand, the war between the loosely formed network of Commonwealth alliances and the Yaanari Coalition, known mostly as The Great Southeastern War, was the one bearing the biggest casualties among Commonwealth war correspondents in space, with reports numbering more than 200 deaths only in the Battle of Tyntregal alone.

**The most documented battle** happened in 2289, during the 9 Month's War on Biluan homeworld of Voice, with special coverage from the Galactic Commonwealth News and it's attachments of surface correspondents, covered in details down below.

#### **Specifications**

Though generally classified as a single, fleshed out military role, war correspondents can be separated into two main sections; The **Space Correspondents** and the **Surface Correspondents**.

* **Space Correspondents -** They are, mostly, found operating within the ranks of Task Force Manticore, but in some cases, during space engagements, it is also common seeing these journalists covering the fight directly from civilian or military space stations, aiming to capture combat footage in the most effective way possible. This section is the most respected and prestigious for any war correspondent, requiring good rankings and high grades for considering to apply joining.

* **Surface Correspondents -** This is the most common section among war correspondents, dating back even to combat data reports from before the Exodus in Earth. It aims to record the combat raging in a planetary battle, covering not only the combat in surrounding regions, but also providing "propaganda" and footage of the respective planet undergoing engagements.

Although somewhat considered by military officials as civilian journalists, most war correspondents undergo through extensive military trainings, those of which aiming to apply especially for self defense situations against vicious enemies in the heat of combat. It usually lasts half the period of a common Commonwealth soldier's military training, and in most cases, it is deemed sufficient for non combat units to operate inside main engagements.

While in active military service, war correspondents hold the official ranks of Non-Commissioned officers; such as Lieutenants and Captains for the most part. The main reason for such a high military positioning in the ranks is to prevent a harsh treatment if an individual is taken captive as an active P.O.W. in battle, thus theoretically increasing the overall chances in survival of military journalists during captivity, since proper officer treatment would be received, instead of the regular treatment given to Privates and Corporals in the armies of the Commonwealth's Armed Forces.

For a military journalist to properly join combat, they are issued a standard use military weapon (Nothing larger than a common military AL-58) -provided for self defense situations- and a unique uniform, displaying several features to facilitate the filming of overall combat footage, different colours in the uniforms are also provided to distinguish war correspondents from regular units, and badges bearing the emblem of **The Commonwealth's War Correspondent Detachment** are displayed in both shoulders of the uniform.

In Task Force Manticore, It is very common seeing multiple Space Correspondents operating inside each vessel of the fleet, with the only exception going to the Akula-Class Corvettes for their small and compact size, making it almost impossible for covering battles inside their structures, with these ships providing only occasional tours when not currently in battle for the media sources, serving as one of the main sources surrounding the myths about the deeds of Akula Corvettes in active warfare. Although tasked initially with covering footage of open wide battles, Space Correspondents operating from Manticore also started providing footage and interviews about the every day life of crews inside each respective vessel of the most powerful fleet of the Southeastern Galactic Quadrant. These filming footages inspired Commonwealth's Propaganda Division to commence documenting one of the most respected and successful military documentary series throughout the entire Galaxy, it's name goes by "Manticore's Star Citizens", and it is an accurate representation of the lifes aboard Task Force Manticore and other military installations scattered across the Commonwealth, with each season featuring a specific ship class and their deeds, along with their service history and specifications.

For Space Correspondents living inside a ship, they are usually forced to share an officer's quarter with themselves (Though usually living in separated quarters being only possible inside Archon-class Heavy Dreadnoughts), performing basic ship tasks, similar orders, undergoing through the same routines of the rest of the crew, and receiving similar information as the common grunts of the fleet often get daily to prevent top secret military leaks to the public.

#### **Military Incidents & Overall Recognition**

Although active journalism has seen combat for many centuries of humanity's history by now, many well known military commanders have regularly voiced their opinion against the deployment of such units, with General Branicki himself having once referred to his detachment of Surface Correspondents as 'Useless filmmaking practice targets’ when asked about their participation in active engagements at the battlefield. The same, however, cannot be said to all officers of the Commonwealth. General Telaviin, for instance, was responsible for actively supporting the militarisation and officialization of war correspondents on the battlefield as rightful Commonwealth soldiers, while later, General Aspinaca would also be considered a reformer of such roles, going so far as providing special task forces to aid correspondent-led missions to capture rare footage in active combat territory. Aspinaca was one of the few commanders who regularly voiced interviews with the media, especially after the 9 Month's War and the Destruction of Voice in 2289, giving his opinions on the matter many times through the cameras of his own personal military journalists. Many officers, however, still carry on the resentment towards War Correspondents, as they are mostly seen for the higher ranks of Commonwealth's Armed Forces as 'irritating, inconvenient and uncontrollable civilian subordinates’ operating in a deadly warzone.

The same, however, cannot be said about Space Correspondents, as

their structure is much more organized and regulated among fleet officials. As such, in recent years, Admiral Ibrahim has given several liberties to these Correspondents, even allowing some to accompany her during first stages in the intervention of the Yaanari-Entente war by the Commonwealth. Since considered the most respected among military journalists, Space Correspondents usually serve by strict moral, discipline and honour codes, those being extra enforced by the elite naval crews themselves, providing, then, less frequent complaints about their presence during fleet engagements.

##### D**isaster at Voice**

While most engagements involving War Correspondents have ended with bloodshed shown live to the media, nothing could be compared to the massive destruction and carnage recorded in the incursion at the Biluan Homeworld of Voice. During the battle, many news sources, including the GCN, the CPD, and even foreign Entente Correspondents, had deployed their own military journalists on the site, aiming to cover the invasion that, initially, seemed to be going almost flawlessly in favour of the Commonwealth forces. These media outlets commenced recording right after the landing of the initial infantry divisions, accompanying the soldiers charging and slashing through Biluan hordes in the first few hours of the 2nd wave's arrival.

However, during the mind's counterattack few days later, several channels reporting on the combat scenes of the planet (Of which grew at an alarming rate) started acts of heavy censorship throughout the news broadcasts integrating the Commonwealth, aiming to prevent a nationwide panic as ground forces started brutally losing ground to the swarm's endless attack waves, being also said that the sheer slaughter on screen could demoralise the population watching the live sources. Many units were surrounded and engulfed by the swarm, leaving gigantic rates of casualties both for the main army of Commonwealth's Armed Forces and to the Surface Correspondents themselves. It is estimated that around 7,000 to 9,500 War Correspondents were left behind in the planet during the final evacuation, making it the single **most deadly planetary battle to military journalists in humanity's history**.

Several measures were issued after the disastrous invasion of Voice, Surface Correspondents would initiate a massive reduction to it's manpower capacity, aiming to reach the same elite status of prestige and recognition created by the Space Correspondents during their years of creation. Also, the implementation of automated recording drones would be greatly intensified in the coming years, hoping to cover and prevent future catastrophes like with previous journalists in past wide and bloody engagements.

It seemed, at least for the time, that the Commonwealth was bound to fully automate their frontline combat units, not even letting their own Correspondents enter the most chaotic battlefields on sight.

#### **External Foreign War Correspondent Units**

Though less commonly recognised, there are many other nations throughout the galaxy operating War Correspondents under their ranks, although in a considerable lesser extent as the Commonwealth, deploying their own military journalist units during active warfare. Among those nations, the biggest standing out unleashing their War Correspondents are; The Entente (Mostly Alir led neutral efforts to inform their population), The Thadrakos Families (Aiming to capture the 'True glory of warfare’, as they so call it), The Udkavongo Confederation (Seeking mostly Propaganda to fuel their massive recruitment policies) and, surprisingly, the Zracon Union (With many priests acticing similarly as War Correspondents to recover military reports and boast their religion in war-torn territory). Another nation known to present similar units as of military journalists were the Kingdom of Yadra (By having many artists and nobles portraying battle accounts with paintings, poetry and epic titles like ancient stories of the early days of their kingdom), though in recent decades, with Yadran society falling more and more into anarchy, such roles are almost close to none in what's left of their military forces currently in civil war. In another note, troops of the Eternal Empire also do tend to keep records and information of battles in a much more detailed way than most other alien species, that being, most of the soldiers within line ranks and significant ranking take notes of everyday life, combat and aftermath, in personal diaries to then be evaluated by commanders to acess their troops' situation in the battlefield.