Tony Horwitz is a former war correspondent in the Middle East, author
of Confederate Memory: The U.S. Civil War, and a 2005 - 2006 Radcliffe fellow.
"In terms of war reporting, I'd like to embed three thoughts,"
Horwitz begins. "First, the traditional model of the war reporter has become a straight
jacket; second, the new technology has deepened the fog of war; and third, the role of the
war reporter is being taken over by the warriors themselves."
Horwitz talks about his experience as a war correspondent in the
field from 1987 to 1993, when satellite phones were primitive, expensive, and cumbersome and
e-mail was in its infancy. In contrast, during the 2003 invasion of Iraq, reporters and
their audience watched the same events unfold almost simultaneously. "This should have made
war more transparent and comprehensible, but in most cases, it didn't," Horwitz claims. He
also argues that the idealized model of a war reporter remains stuck in the Spanish Civil
War, World War II, or Vietnam. "The observers are being replaced by the actors," he says.
"Increasingly, soldiers are becoming reporters themselves. They have access to e- mail,
digital cameras, satellite communication. Ernie Pyle is now the blogosphere."
After his time as a war correspondent, Horwitz spent several years
studying the Civil War reenactors in the American South. According to Horwitz, "the mantra
of reenactors is that we're not here to debate slavery, or states' rights, or the other
issues at stake in the Civil War; we're here to remember and honor the heroism and sacrifice
of the common soldier." Reenactors focus on the minutia of camp life and the drama and
hardware of combat. Horwitz concludes by suggesting that "in so doing, [reenactors] miss the
big picture, the passions and issues that underlie the conflict." He views this as much like
the experience of embedded reporters in modern warfare, who miss larger issues as they focus
on the immediate and authentic experiences in their range of vision and experience on the
battlefield.
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