I don't think the Press has any business being involved in Military Operations. They destroy Operations Security, sometimes intentionally. Reporters should be held under detention at Brigade HQ and thrown scraps just as the dogs outside of the mess tents. Reporters in battle are flotsam and jetsam on a turbulent sea. All Public Opinion needs to know is, "is it over", and "did we Win?"
While I'm thinking about it, don't bother asking me what I think of Congress and the Military.
You said — “I don’t think the Press has any business being involved in Military Operations.”
Well, that’s the wrong way around from the way I was meaning it. For one thing, the Pentagon knows that in our society you can’t remove the press from the equation, since they’re considered the eyes and ears of the public (and the press would include all the forms of media). So, instead of fighting against it, they’ve decided to co-opt it and use it to send disinformation through those channels — for all sorts of reasons — one of which would be for “morale”. And thus, that’s why it’s very understandable how this situation came about.
And in regards to your opinions about the press, you know that what you’re saying will never happen. And as far as what the public needs to know — well, of course for operational security in certain discrete missions, you’re not going to tell the public stuff that will compromise that. Aside from those sorts of things the public *must know it all* — at all times. Remember, the military operates at the behest of the public — it’s not the other way around. So, that’s the way it’s going to remain, civilian control of the military and full information to the public (aside from the proviso noted), so the public can make determinations what the military should do and for the public to exercise *their control* over the military...