When war breaks out, the world's media converge on the scene of battle. The bigger the battle, the more consequential the fighting, and the more the great power is involved, the more the media will be present. “The very nature of war,” according to journalist Kate Adie (2002), “confounds the role of the journalist.” (2002). Faced with the often horrific realities of conflict, any belief that the journalist can remain distant, remote or indifferent to what is happening “tends to go out the window” quickly. Loss of life is not always the only casualty in wartime. Even the truth becomes a victim. US Senator Hiram Warren Johnson stated soon after World War I that "truth is the first casualty of war", while former leader of the United Kingdom, Winston Churchill, observed that "truth is so precious that it must often be attended from a bodyguard of Lies." For the modern journalist, truth in wartime reporting is still an important issue and a casualty, particularly during the United States' "war on terror" in Iraq and Afghanistan. In every war, most reporting is done far from the scene of battle, especially in newsrooms and press offices protected from the brutality of the war field. More recently, however, there has been a growing change in the way wars are covered by the media. As the global news cycle gets faster, so does the public's insatiable hunger for instant access to news and current affairs. As a result, newsrooms around the world have had to look for new ways to cover events and obtain information. Journalists reporting on the Iraq war were granted unprecedented access to the war zone. During the Iraq War, the media had the option to "embed" their journalists into the US military. This allowed a j...... middle of paper......Carruthers, S. 2011. The media at war. Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan.CBC Digital Archives. 2013. The Embedding Debate. [online] Available at: http://www.cbc.ca/archives/categories/arts-entertainment/media/bringing-the-world-home-international-correspondents/the-embedding-debate.html [Accessed: 13 November 2013].Louw, P. 2005. The media and the political process. London: SAGE PublicationsNews.bbc.co.uk. 2013. BBC NEWS | United Kingdom | How embedded journalists handle war. [online] Available at: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/2885179.stm [Accessed: 12 November 2013].Pbs.org. 2003. NewsHour Extra: Pros and Cons of Embedded Journalism - March 27, 2003. [online] Available at: http://www.pbs.org/newshour/extra/features/jan-june03/embed_3-27.html [ Accessed: 10 November 2013]. Seib, P. 2008. Beyond the front line. New York [etc.]: Palgrave Macmillan.