ABSTRACT
The persistent need to integrate communications theory into a broader social theory has resulted in some interesting attempts to consolidate a comprehensive theory of communications. The work of Habermas is the best example that comes to mind. Nevertheless, a lacuna still exists in more specific fields of communication research, for example, in that which concerns communication and war. In Hallin's words:
Much of the work, even the best work, lacks connection to general theory: it does not address, or only begins to address, the impact of war and wartime communication on the relation of state and civil society, the structure of the public sphere, or political culture and social ideology, though it seems likely that war plays a profound role in shaping all of these. The field in its present state lacks also coherence: much of the work makes little reference to other literature on the media and war or to the broader literature on war and society. 1
In the past decade the Israeli media has undergone profound changes. These changes have been treated descriptively and mostly in Hebrew, but there has been scant research on the theoretical meaning of the dramatic shift in the media's relations
with the military and with the government, and on the way they deal with issues related to war. 2 The importance of studying these changes directly intersects with the above-mentioned need to combine the study of the media with a broader social theory. Security, as noted by social theorists from Max Weber to Anthony Giddens, is the quintessential reflection of the state ; it is here, above all, that the state asserts its autonomy and penetrates society.3 Changes in the media's treatment of security can, therefore, testify to processes that impact on the 'deep structure' of contemporary societies, in the links between the individual, civil society, and the state.
