Evolution of the role of media in US information security doctrines in the XXI century

Section: Theory of Journalism and Media

he article reveals the current problem of determining the media role in US doctrinal documents related to information security. In particular, the article analyzes documents adopted over the past twenty years, which allows to identify the evolution of the American leadership’s understanding of the media concept in the US national security system. The research methodology is based on a systematic approach and includes methods of a general scientific group (analysis, synthesis, induction, deduction), as well as a number of special methods: historiographic analysis of scientific literature on the research topic; political and legal analysis of doctrinal documents; comparative analysis and method of historical retrospection. Based on the research results, the author concluded that over the past half century, US doctrine in the field of media has evolved from an understanding of media as a tool of deterrence to an active means of supporting US information operations. This approach allows the American leadership to pursue a systematic policy of using media as an offensive resource in information wars.

Amitav M. K. (2023) Technology and Security in the 21st Century. SIPRI Research Report 2: 3–17.

Brodie M. (2000) Strategy in the Missile Age. Washington.

Croft R. (2018). The End of Monroe Doctrine. SAIS Review 16(1): 254–256.

Ellis J. D. (2019) The Best Defense: Counterproliferation and U.S. National Security. The Washington Quarterly 26: 117–128.

Homolar A. (2023) The Uncertainty Doctrine: Narrative Politics and US Hard Power after the Cold War. New York.

Laver H. L. (2005) Preemption and the Evolution of America’s Strategic Defense. US Military Academy Journal4: 108–120.

Pembecioglu N. (2023) Pandect Law in Media Culture: Snowpiercer Analysis. Interciencia 4: 34–59.

Sempa F. P. (2022) US Security Strategies from the Cold War to the 21st Century. 2nd ed. 

Shallcross N. J. (2017) Social Media and Information Operations in the 21st Century. Journal of Information Warfare 16(1): 1–12.

Wulzer P. (2018) “We Will Not Permit Another Iran”. The United States, the Protection of Saudi Arabia and the Reagan Corollary to the Carter Doctrine (1980–1981). Acta Histriae 26(3): 829–850.

Arzamanova T. V. (2021) Parad sammitov «kollektivnogo Zapada» na fone formirovaniya vneshnepoliticheskoy doktriny Dzh. Baydena [The parade of the "collective West" summits against the backdrop of the formation of J. Biden's foreign policy doctrine]. Yevropeyskaya bezopasnost': sobytiya, otsenki, prognozy 7: 2–12. (In Russian)

Bedran' V. V. (2012) Mekhanizmy informatsionnoy voyny SShA protiv Iraka v nachale XXI v. [Mechanisms of the U.S. information war against Iraq in the early 21st century]. Vestnik RGGU. Seriya: Politologiya. Istoriya. Mezhdunarodnye otnosheniya 7: 186–195. (In Russian)

Bukharin V. V. (2016) Sravnitel'nyy analiz normativnoy bazy po obespecheniyu informatsionnoy bezopasnosti v SShA i RF (konets XX – nachalo XXI v.) [Comparative analysis of the regulatory framework for ensuring information security in the USA and Russia (late 20th – early 21st century)]. iPolytech Journal 12: 2–10. (In Russian)

Kozhevnikov A. M. (2022) Sotsial'nye media kak sredstvo vedeniya informatsionnoy voyny protiv Rossii [Social media as a tool of information warfare against Russia]. Akademicheskaya mysl' 4: 181–186. (In Russian)

Korol'kova N. V. (2022) Vzaimootnosheniya SSSR i SShA v doktrine natsional'noy bezopasnosti i printsipov «rasprostraneniya demokratii» administratsii R. Reygana [USSR-US relations in the national security doctrine and the "spread of democracy" principles of the R. Reagan administration]. Via in tempore. Istoriya. Politologiya 3: 90–96. (In Russian)

Mazayeva E. S. (2017) Konstitutsiya — baza dlya argumentatsii doktriny natsional'noy bezopasnosti SShA [Constitution as the basis for the argumentation of the U.S. national security doctrine]. Yuridicheskaya tekhnika 7: 178–191. (In Russian)

Nebrenchin S. M. (2020) Mesto i rol' informatsionnogo faktora v prodvizhenii «myagkoy sily» [The place and role of the information factor in promoting "soft power"]. Bol'shaya Yevraziya: razvitie, bezopasnost', sotrudnichestvo 3: 170–177. (In Russian)

Pankratov V. N. (2020) Natsional'nye interesy kak osnova «revizionizma» na mezhdunarodnoy arene v kontekste strategiy natsional'noy bezopasnosti Ukrainy, SShA, Rossii [National interests as the basis for "revisionism" in the international arena in the context of national security strategies of Ukraine, the USA, and Russia]. Natsional'naya bezopasnost' / Nota Bene 1: 12–25. (In Russian)

Podberezkin A. N., Podberezkina O. A. (2018) Politika sanktsiy kak chast' politiki «silovogo prinuzhdeniya» [Sanctions policy as part of the "coercive force" policy]. Obozrevatel' 11: 6–21. (In Russian)

To cite this article: Kochkin A. V. (2024) Evolyutsiya roli media v doktrinakh informatsionnoy bezopasnosti SShA v XXI veke [Evolution of the role of media in US information security doctrines in the XXI century]. Vestnik Moskovskogo Universiteta. Seriya 10. Zhurnalistika 5: 100–114. DOI: 10.55959/msu.vestnik.journ.5.2024.100114