Beyond the Front Lines

Has Al Jazeera's impact been underestimated? Is the role of the Internet fully understood? Has public diplomacy become mired in clumsy propaganda? Beyond the Front Lines examines these issues, suggesting ways journalists might carry out their job better and defining the role of the news media in a high-tech, globalized and dangerous world.

'Philip Seib is a journalist, a student of journalism, and a teacher of journalists, who has the rare talent of asking the right questions. His book, Beyond the Front Lines, has to be helpful to anyone who worries about the place of the news media in an increasingly complicated and dangerous world.' - Stephen Hess, Senior Fellow, The Brookings Institution and Co-editor of The Media and the War on Terrorism

'The continuous, worldwide reach of the Internet and 24-hour TV news is transforming the way wars and global news are covered and understood. Philip Seib explains why the dramatic pictures on our TV screens and our computer monitors are so vivid and yet so frustratingly pixelated and distorted. His analysis is as vital for news consumers as it is for newsmakers and news gatherers.' - Mark Stencel, Senior Editor, The Washington Post

'A fascinating, even-handed critique of how the media cover war in today's complex, globalized, and technology-driven environment.' - Mohammed el-Nawawy, international media scholar and Co-author of Al-Jazeera

'A valuable book for journalists, military officers, and government officials alike. Seib raises all the right questions about the media and contemporary warfare, and offers some useful and even provocative answers.' - Albert C. Pierce, Director, Center for the Study of Professional Military Ethics, U.S. Naval Academy

'Beyond the Front Lines is a first-rate and much needed explanation of the contemporary domestic, foreign, and global media in the crises-laden post-9-11 era. Illuminated by the rich insider knowledge of the former journalist and the healthy detachment of the journalism professor, Seib's volume offers an authoritative account of the new challenges and responsibilities that journalists, news organizations and governmental decision makers face in the changed geopolitical realities of the early 21st Century. The well-written volume deserves not only the attention of journalists, students of communication, political science, and sociology but of the interest general public as well.' - Brigitte L. Nacos, Columbia University, USA

'In Beyond the Front Lines, Philip Seib presents a highly readable and thought-provoking review of news media coverage of the 2003 war in Iraq. He examines journalistic triumphs and defeats and raises the tough questions that must be addressed by the news media before the next major U.S. military conflict. An outstanding work!' - Kathy R. Fitzpatrick, Attorney and Associate Professor and Director, MA in Public Relations and Advertising, DePaul University, USA

'Seib raises some thought-provoking questions about how the US media portray war. . . This book will serve as a good conversation starter in classrooms.' - Choice

'This is an intelligent, tightly argued and interesting book that seeks to examine various transformations in US journalsim in response to the 2003 Iraq war.' - Marcus Leaning, InternationalJournal of Radical Mass Media Criticism

Philip Seib is Professor of Journalism and Public Diplomacy, Professor of International Relations, and director of the Center on Public Diplomacy at the University of Southern California, USA.