Everette E. Dennis

About the Author: Everette E. Dennis is the executive director of the Freedom Forum in New York City. The forum is the nation's first institute for the advanced study of mass communication and technological change.

Editor's note: The American news media play an enormously important role in wartime. News organizations provide Americans with information they need to assess the progress of the war and the foreign policies of , the American government. However, the news media

face a difficult problem: They must attempt to communicate events fairly and accurately without revealing sensitive military information which could jeopardize America's war effort.

While all journalists acknowledge that some reporting restrictions are necessary to protect military operations, many journalists expressed dissatisfaction with the restrictions enforced by the American military during...