Pulitzer prize winning journalist Peter Arnett has covered the erupting hot spots of the world for more than three decades. As his biographical Live From the Battlefield attests, through his frequent adversarial relationship with the powers that be and his unparalleled tenacity to get the story, Arnett has changed the face of modern journalism. Most influential in his role as war correspondent, Arnett's career has ushered in the era of independent television news coverage, as well as era of the supreme risk taker willing to fall on the sword in defence of the First Amendment. Breaking the traditional vow of silence and collusion with those who govern, he was also among the first journalists to realize that the media was an instrument of power for conveying accuracy, and for correcting the record (Arnett, 1994, p. 51).
Before Arnett, the journalist was something akin to a skilled, well-disciplined lap dog waiting for its master to dispense with table scraps of information (journalists were considered lucky to have a place in the house at all). Traditionally, war correspondents had a long history of championing the efforts of the empowered right up to World War II and the Korean War. It was the rule rather than the exception that analysis was confined to a reading of the political scene by a journalist reviewing whose writings could make no impact.
Arnett changed that. Possessing all of the traits necessary for any would-be journalist to study, he developed excellent communication skills, writing efficiency, and personable narrative that was arresting.
A New Zealand puritanical upbringing instilled in him an unwavering personal moral rectitude. Such inclination manifested itself in a stubbornness not to succumb to national interest. Such a quality allowed him to navigate the shark-infested channels of power with less risk. His native land with its tales of by-gone days of the rogue adventurer, instilled in Arnett a d...