Pen & Sword: A Journalist's Guide to Covering the Military
Marion Street Press, November, 2001.
Paperback, 311 pages.
ISBN: 0966517644
Pen & Sword offers useful tips for journalists
covering the military, conflicts and wars.
This is an extremely timely book, considering the
current war on terrorism and possible war with Iraq.
The book provides details of how journalists have
covered previous military engagements
and offers advice and suggestions for covering
future events. Tips are provided for dealing with
public affairs officers, meeting generals and commanders
and surviving the Pentagon.
The book also covers sensitive issues journalists face
in covering war, like reporting on a serviceman's death,
and covering an aircraft crash. Pen & Sword also
contains extensive reference information, including an overview of
the defense industry, lists and pictures of military rank,
lists of government military websites and a chronology
of U.S. military operations since 1981.
Ed Offley, an experienced Gulf War reporter at the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, teaches journalists how to handle the difficult issues presented by war coverage and shows them what types of information are readily available for further research. Pen & Sword is an excellent book for any journalist, but especially for journalists who are covering the military beat, including the current War on Terrorism.
Pen & Sword: A Journalist's Guide to Covering the Military is available for purchase on Amazon.com
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This review was published in the February, 2003 of The Internet Writing Journal.
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