Military spouses' relationship with media during the Iraq War

ISBN-13: 9783639224016 / Angielski / Miękka / 2009 / 80 str.

Alison Kohler

Opis

Military spouses have a complex relationship with news coverage of Operation Iraqi Freedom, the 2003 Iraq War. Utilizing uses and gratifications, hostile media perception, and cognitive dissonance perspectives as a basis, the researcher studied military spouses media behaviors, perceived benefits of media usage, and whether hostile media perception and cognitive dissonance were present in this convenience sample of military spouses. Thirty military spouses participated in in-depth interviews. The results showed a desire for more positive news stories and less negative news stories about Operation Iraqi Freedom. Hostile media perception and cognitive dissonance responses were noted among participants-especially with regard to the medias tracking totals of soldier and civilian casualties. Military spouses in this sample found military news sources more credible than civilian news sources. They also described using news coverage for the purposes of gaining information, surveillance, political competency and empathy.

O autorze

Alison Kohler is a civilian public affairs officer for the U.S. Army at Fort Riley, Kansas. She holds a B.S. in secondary education and an M.S. in journalism and mass communications from Kansas State University. She is married to a U.S. Army Reserve soldier and they live in Manhattan, Kansas, with their two basset hounds.