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A war's outcome is determined by more than bullets and bombs. In our digital age, the proliferation of new media venues has magnified the importance of information - whether its content is true or purposely false - in battling an enemy and defending the public.
In this book, Philip Seib, one of the world's leading experts on media and war, offers a probing analysis of the role of information in warfare from the Second World War to the present day and beyond. He focuses on some of the thorniest issues on the contemporary agenda: When untruthful and inflammatory information poisons a nation's political processes and weakens its social fabric, what kind of response is appropriate? How can media literacy help citizens defend themselves against information warfare? Should militaries place greater emphasis on crippling their adversaries with information rather than kinetic force?
Well-written and wide-ranging, Information at War suggests answers to key questions with which governments, journalists, and the public must grapple during the years ahead. Information at war affects us all, and this book shows us how.
List of contents
Preface and Acknowledgments
Introduction
1. Living-Room Wars
2. Competing for Information Control
3. War Information Expands
4. Social Media Go to War
5. Russia and New Dimensions of Information at War
6. From Media Manipulation to Media Literacy
7. Where We've Been, Where We're Going
Selected Bibliography
Notes
About the author
Philip Seib is Professor of Journalism, Public Diplomacy, and International Relations¿ at the University of Southern California.
Summary
A war's outcome is determined by more than bullets and bombs. In our digital age, the proliferation of new media venues has magnified the importance of information - whether its content is true or purposely false - in battling an enemy and defending the public.
In this book, Philip Seib, one of the world's leading experts on media and war, offers a probing analysis of the role of information in warfare from the Second World War to the present day and beyond. He focuses on some of the thorniest issues on the contemporary agenda: When untruthful and inflammatory information poisons a nation's political processes and weakens its social fabric, what kind of response is appropriate? How can media literacy help citizens defend themselves against information warfare? Should militaries place greater emphasis on crippling their adversaries with information rather than kinetic force?
Well-written and wide-ranging, Information at War suggests answers to key questions with which governments, journalists, and the public must grapple during the years ahead. Information at war affects us all, and this book shows us how.
Report
"Using exactly the right examples ranging from Homer to modern China's 'Three Warfares', Professor Seib takes us on convincing and captivating analytic journey, proving again that Seib is today's master at understanding how information shapes every part of our lives."
Ambassador Marc Grossman, Former Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs, U.S. State Department
"Philip Seib shows himself yet again to be one of the most insightful observers of our contemporary age. In elegant prose, masterful use of historical vignettes, and trenchant analysis, he demonstrates how war and information are inseparable. The unrelenting information revolution and conflicts of the twenty-first century are occurring in tandem; to understand these new challenges, read this book."
William Inboden, Clements Center for National Security, The University of Texas at Austin
"Seib's new book provides an array of insightful chapters describing and analyzing conflicts, when (dis)information becomes a weapon in itself."
International Journal of Communication
"This book provides exceptionally timely analysis & case studies as well as a solidly grounded history...the cases capture and explain a century of turning points in the media & information's wartime role."
Media Village
"An elegant and meticulously researched overview of the contemporary relationship between war and information, and the struggle for narrative control of the "conflict" story"
The Foreign Service Journal
