True horror of WWI

[Hedgehog]

Mail man who went to the trenches in a bowler hat and Burberry coat: Eccentric, rebellious and breathtakingly brave, Basil Clarke defied the censors to tell an unsuspecting world the true horror of WWI

• The Daily Mail journalist spent three months undercover in war-torn France
• He smuggled home dispatches detailing the vivid horror of the fighting
• But to Lord Kitchener he was a 'rogue journalist' doomed to be arrested
• He was later knighted for developing the fields of propaganda and PR

By Richard Evans




http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...n-went-trenches-bowler-hat.html#ixzz2qY5pDHHI

 

[Facman]

Yes, it doesn't bode well to tell the truth about the horrors of war, whilst still in the fray.

 

[Ithikial]

The 1916 Official British Propaganda Film is another prime example of underestimating the power of media. Granted, the idea that moving images could be so powerful hadn't really entered into the minds of the decision makers. Recording life at the front lines of the Somme, it was thought the film would boost war time fervor and enrollment numbers. It actually did the opposite and started to turn people against the war. There were even reported cases of relatives in picture houses seeing relatives and loved ones on film wounded or dead on screen. The British Government learned it's lesson.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Battle_of_the_Somme_(film)

What's interesting though is the same mistake was repeated in Vietnam more than 50 years later. The first big war to be broadcast into peoples homes via the television on a daily basis.

 

[Facman]

the same mistake was repeated in Vietnam more than 50 years later.

Thank goodness or 'The Wall' would have been even bigger.