The “ beat" and the “ scoop ” lose their importance in the pres
ence of the vital problems of the future. The war correspondent has defended himself against the charges brought against his work , but the historian can not accept this defence without further inquiry . The charge that the enemy profits by the excessive zeal of war correspondents has been so repeatedly made that it especially can not be dis missed without examination . The instances always cited are that Napoleon based his instructions to his lieutenants on infor
mation gained from that sent from the front to the English papers; that in the Peninsular War such information was gained
by the enemy; that in the Crimean War the letters of W . H . Russell were valuable to the Russians; that Sherman's march to the sea was instigated by news supplied by the Southern press; that in the Franco-Prussian War, von Moltke, anxious to
know the location of the French troops, saw in a London paper
with a Paris date line the statement that they were concentrating near Sedan and, therefore, acting on this information , planned the Sedan campaign ; that during the South African War letters
from
correspondents revealed important information to the
enemy; that during the Spanish -American War every intended movement of the American forces was published in American journals.83 These statements have become classic , the list is apparently never lengthened , and constant repetition has given it the force of authority .
It is difficult for the student of history to know how much weight to give to these oft-repeated statements. It seems un reasonable to believe that a military commander should , in G . A . Townsend was one of the first of American war correspondents to describe not only the operations of the army but the country itself and its inhabitants. - Campaigns of a Non -Combatant, passim . 83 Sydney Brooks, " The Press in War Time," Harper 's Weekly, Decem
ber 21, 1912 ; this article is elaborated and published under the same title in the North American Review , December , 1914, 200 : 858 - 869. - William Maxwell, “ The War Correspondent in Sunshine and Eclipse ," Nineteenth Century and After , March , 1913, 73 : 608 -623 .
C . Ř . B . Barrett, “ Napoleon and the British Press,” Journal of the
Royal United Service Institution , November, 1916 , 61: 814-879. The author raises the question how far Napoleon profited by information contained in the British press and decides that it is improbable that news received
months late could have affected his plans. The article , however, supports Wellington in his censure of the p
