Becoming the Story

Lindsay Palmer is an assistant professor of global media ethics at the University of Wisconsin, Madison.

"[Palmer] is on to something as she as she examines how Western audiences and readers are encouraged to empathize with war correspondents as heroes, victims, or martyrs."--The New York Review of Books"A worthy contribution to the scholarly literature on media, war, and conflict. It should be required reading for scholars and students of journalism and political communication. It adds significant depth to our understanding of how reporters are affected by nationalistic and neoliberal business motives in their reporting of international events." --Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly"Becoming the Story is a valuable addition to the field of critical media studies, journalism history, and twenty-first-century military history." --H-Net Reviews "In most academic studies of post-9/11 war reporting, the challenges and risks that the ‘conflict correspondents’ face often get insufficient attention. Lindsay Palmer’s pioneering and commendable study fills a gap in journalism scholarship. Highly recommended."--Daya Kishan Thussu, author of News as Entertainment: The Rise of Global Infotainment "Covering a war means going to places torn by chaos, destruction and death,' the late foreign correspondent Marie Colvin observed, 'and trying to bear witness' in order to 'find the truth in a sandstorm of propaganda.' Lindsay Palmer’s book honors this commitment, offering us a rigorously perceptive assessment of war reporting over the first decade since the September 11 attacks. Its case studies draw upon analyses of the news coverage, as well as extensive interviews with correspondents and their editors, to present important insights into what gets reported, how and why. Essential reading."--Stuart Allan, author of Photojournalism and Citizen Journalism: Co-operation, Collaboration and Connectivity