Book Review: Peter Young & Peter Jesser. The media and the military: From Crimea to Desert Strike. Melbourne: Macmillan Press, 1997

The mutual contempt that the military and the media have for each other would always make for interesting reading. It is the sitcom I always look for on American TV but never find! Peter Young and Peter Jesser's book on the two protagonists makes even better reading since it is riddled with so many dramatic stories and events. But this is hardly laughing matter. The book is an exhaustive history of this murderous antagonism. The writers have assembled some of the freshest materials coming from a wide range of sources not least of all from the Press Corp itself to refresh our minds of the contemptible miscarriage of civilian-military relations in living memory. If nothing else the book is an excellent look at the two institutions locked in combat, questioning the myths, rituals and culture of war and its reporting