U.S. Veterans and Civilians Describe Military News Coverage as Mediocre, Think Stories Affect Others More Than Themselves

• Published date: 01 July 2023
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1177/0095327X221080944
• Author: Scott Parrott,David L. Albright,Nicholas Eckhart,Kirsten Laha-Walsh
• Date: 01 July 2023
• Subject Matter: Articles

https://doi.org/10.1177/0095327X221080944

Armed Forces & Society

2023, Vol. 49(3) 713 –728

© The Author(s) 2022

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DOI: 10.1177/0095327X221080944

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Article

U.S. Veterans and

Civilians Describe Military

News Coverage as

Mediocre, Think Stories

Affect Others More Than

Themselves

Scott Parrott1, David L. Albright1,

Nicholas Eckhart1, and Kirsten Laha-Walsh1

Abstract

The news media often portray military veterans in stereotypical ways, providing

audiences narrow representations in which veterans are traumatized heroes. What

happens when a veteran sees these storylines and assumes they affect how the

public thinks about veterans? This question informs this study, which used a two-

prong approach (online, telephone) to survey 1,047 American adults about news

media and veterans. Respondents, including veterans and civilians, were asked to

recall news stories about veterans, assess the quality of news coverage of veterans,

and offer opinions concerning whether news coverage affects themselves and other

people. When respondents could recall a news story about veterans, they described

stereotypical stories related to victimization/harm, heroism, charity/social support,

mental illness, and violence. Respondents, both civilian and veteran, described news

coverage as mediocre and felt the news affects other people more than themselves.

Keywords

veterans, media, news, stereotypes, identity

1The University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, USA

Corresponding Author:

Scott Parrott, The University of Alabama, 901 University Boulevard, Box 870172, Reese Phifer Hall,

Tuscaloosa, AL 35487, USA.

Email: msparrott@ua.edu

1080944AFSXXX10.1177/0095327X221080944Armed Forces & SocietyParrott et al.

research-article2022

714 Armed Forces & Society 49(3)

The mass media, including entertainment and news programming, represent an

important source of information concerning the U.S. military and its veteran service

members. Studies suggest news organizations provide the general public a narrow

and often inaccurate portrait of what it means to be a veteran (Rhidenour et al., 2019;

Wilbur, 2016). Veterans have expressed concern that exposure to such portrayals

might nurture stereotypes, prejudice, and discrimination toward veterans in U.S.

society (Schmidt, 2020). This study builds off the possibility that such thinking

in itself might affect veterans. In other words, veterans who think media stereotypes

affect public perceptions could act differently, avoid social interactions, or otherwise

change their behavior while interacting with the civilian public because they assume

the public misunderstands their experiences and identity. Informed by theory con-

cerning the third-person effect (Perloff, 2002), this study employed a national survey

of 1,047 U.S. adults to better understand Americans’ perceptions of news content

concerning veterans, including the quality of coverage, commonalities in the stories

recalled by respondents, how they think stories affect themselves, and how they think

news coverage affects other civilians and military veterans. This article begins with

a review of the literature concerning public attitudes toward veterans in modern soci-

ety, news representations of veterans, and the importance of how veterans (and oth-

ers) perceive the mass media in veteran or civilian interactions.

Literature Review

Public Attitudes Toward Military Veterans

Military veterans are afforded high social standing in the modern United States, gen-

erally regarded in high esteem among members of the public as part of a “Support the

Troops” cultural norm (Hipes et al., 2015) advanced by politicians, mass media, and

other elites (Coy et al., 2008). While research suggests the public may exaggerate

their support, it also shows veterans are popular among the American public even

when accounting for social norms (Kleykamp et al., 2018). Furthermore, the military

regularly ranks among the most trusted institutions in the United States (Johnson,

2018). To illustrate, eight in ten respondents told surveyors from the Pew Research

Center (2018) that they had confidence that the military will act in the best interests

of the public. About 40% of respondents indicated they had a “great deal” of confi-

dence in the military, exceeding the amount of confidence they reported for scientists

(27% “great deal”), religious leaders (9%), the news media (8%), business leaders

(5%), and elected officials (3%).

Despite the popularity of the military and its service members, veterans describe

being stereotyped by the general public (Schmidt, 2020). Indeed, one survey (Parker

et al., 2019) found differences in how veterans and American adults described people

who have served in the Armed Forces. Veterans were more likely than civilians to

describe people who have served as disciplined, patriotic, loyal, and hardworking, as

well as tolerant and as independent thinkers. Meanwhile, civilians were more likely