The media is even less reliable in war than in peace

“Did you ever think, sir, what an opportunity a battlefield affords liars?”

General Stonewall Jackson, quoted by Patrick Cockburn. It applies to media coverage of all wars and to what is happening now in Israel and Gaza. Please be sceptical.

Jackson fought on the Confederate side in the war between the American states. In a letter he justified giving an assignment to an unpopular officer thus:

“As he has no friends, he will be impartial in his reports."