I can tell you what Union general William Tecumseh Sherman had to say on the matter:
“I hate newspapermen. They come into camp and pick up their camp rumors and print them as facts. I regard them as little more than spies, which, in truth, they are.
If I had my choice I would kill every reporter in the world, but I am sure we would be getting press dispatches from Hell before breakfast.” William Tecumseh Sherman
Good ole Willie T. was dead on right there.