The governments were very strict on early war reporting. Censored news showed only positive things as gloriously won battles, covering up dark sides. There were few pictures and narrations, so there was an abstract clean perception. This prompted people to regard war as justified and desirable and they believed everything that was officially known.
It was dramatically changed during the Vietnam War. On television, the images of brutal combats were brought to the households on a nightly basis. Seeing actual human suffering and anarchy was in direct opposition to governmental optimism. This uncensored raw reporting spawned enormous suspicion of the people and anti-war mobilization. Faith in official war stories was broken.
Media control was revived later in subsequent struggles. The war in the gulf presented accurate footage of weapons. There were restrictions against the journalists who were usually thrown among troops. This restored recognition of a distant warfare that was controlled, and could be less horrifying in the moment, but more suspect towards secrets.
Media control was broken in the digital age. The news broadcast 24 hours required instant reporting and the internet required instant updates. Unguarded experiences were posted online by citizen journalists and soldiers. The visuals of conflicts such as those in Iraq and Afghanistan transmit immediately. This was a continuous stream which once again made war a present discomfort.
In the modern realities, war is covered by social media. Raw, frequently explicit material is streaming out of conflict areas into the platforms. Destruction and the suffering of civilians are immediately captured by real time videos. A lot of misinformation spreads on the way to providing evidence. This first-hand coverage makes the war highly personal, and foments international anger.
Conclusion:
The perception of war was changed due to the evolution of the media. Transcending filtered heroism into raw realities of Vietnam through controlled and manipulated spectacle and now the merciless digital reality, the public views conflict more directly. Such regular exposure has created an intense distrust of official accounts as well as an awareness of the human cost. The media has brought horror of war irreversibly transforming the response of people.
