Media Coverage of the Vietnam War Essay

Write an essay that offers a critical examination of the concept of the ‘guilty media’ thesis in respect of any war of your choice

This essay will discuss to what degree the media can be blamed for the United States’ loss in the Vietnam conflict ending 1975. It will be based predominantly on key written resources on the subject, but it will also contain - by means of an interview - certain first-hand observations from a Vietnam War veteran.

In the middle 1960s, every male in America had to register for Selective Service Draft at age 18. He would then be eligible for the draft and could be inducted into the Army for a period of two years. If you were a college student, you could receive a deferment and would be able to finish college without the fear of being drafted. However, once finished with college, a students name would be put to the very top of the draft list and could be deployed at anytime. The anti-war movement was about young men being drafted and then sent into war that most Americans did not believe threatened the security of the US. The Vietnam War was America’s rebellious war, a war without popular support

During the Vietnam War, Americans were greatly influenced by the extensive media coverage of the war. Before the 1960’s and the intensification of the war, public news coverage of military action was constrained heavily by the government and was directed by Government policy. The Vietnam War uniquely altered the perception of war in the eyes of American citizens by bringing the war into their homes. The Vietnam War was the first U.S uncensored war resulting in the release of graphic images and unaltered accounts of horrific events that helped to change public opinion of the war like nothing it had ever been. This depiction by the media led to a separation between the United States government and the press; much of what was reported flouted

the general reality of the people. The soldier then must fight a war based on ideals, for an ideal

It has been known that the Vietnam War affected many American soldiers who were involved in the war physically and psychologically. The Vietnam War was one of the most memorable wars in history. Many Americans’ lives lost for no objective at all. Chapter 10 informed us about how the Vietnam War started and what really happened during that time. It also gave us background information about Vietnam Veterans and nurses who were involved in the war and what they went through during the war. I had the opportunity to interview a Vietnam Veteran also.

The Vietnam war often known as the limited war was characterized by proxy battles between U.S (and its allies) and USSR (and its allies). The conflict was between two smaller countries (North Vietnam and South Vietnam), however, in actuality, it was between the United States and the Soviet Union. The United States was fighting against the domino effect of communism in Vietnam. The media played a different and unusual role in the Vietnam war.

American Public Opinion of the Vietnam War At the beginning of the U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War, in 1965, the American Public favored the idea of war because they feared the threat of communism. Polls conducted in 1965, showed 80 percent of the population agreed with President Johnson and were for the war (Rousseau 11). The U.S. got involved with the war to stop communism from spreading throughout South Asia. Americans were afraid if one country on South Asia turned to communism, it would extend to other countries, which is known as the "Domino Theory".

How effective were the Vietcong tactics of underground tunnels and booby traps in the Vietnam War?

This paper will be explaining the similarities, and differences, between the Vietnam War and the War in Afghanistan. There are many topics that bring these two wars together. However, I am only going to be talking about public support, policy objectives, military strategy, weapons, fighting spirit, links to home, and death totals. These topics have a lot of information about them, but there is too much to write about every little detail, so I will cover the broad overview of them. Each paragraph will be about one of the topics. There will also be a discussion about insurgencies and counter insurgency operations. These are two big topics in Vietnam and Afghanistan since almost all of the enemy in both wars were, and are, comprised of insurgents and different types of militia groups.

The purpose of this website is explain the complex reasons and responses for protesting the Vietnam War. It uses personal experiences to express the great contemplation that this topic had during this period of time. Reasons for protesting the Vietnam War greatly reflected the social, economic, and political conditions of the 1960’s and 1970’s. Quotes from African Americans are used to show the demand for freedom and equality. This source is reliable because it is used by the University of Iowa to teach this specific topic.

It is clear that journalists played a great role during the Vietnam War considering that they were source of advice and motivation during the war. Many journalists have been recognized due to their efforts during the war where there were radios that broadcasted thus addressing some issues that needed to be known by people. There several American soldiers who have been quoted mentioning their experiences during those times where journalists were heard on radios and newspapers. In order to get a good understanding on the roles that were played by journalists during this war, it is important to at the history of the war. This war started in 1954 where the two super powers were engaging into war. The United States was fighting against the Soviet Union that advocated for communism. Their operations led to the killing of many people where others were displaced. The war had a great impact on the economy since there were a lot of property was destroyed not forgetting the destruction of businesses thus affecting the economy of the nations. It is important to note that not many Americans were happy with the decision of United States engaging into this war. This is because the war had various effects where even many American soldiers and citizens were killed. This is because America had sent its own soldiers in order to participate in the war. Soviet Union of the other hand was looking forward to gain power and procession as well. There are many people who were killed

While discussing the relationships between media and US foreign policy, it is crucial to examine different conceptual models that explain such interactions and how these models have evolved

t first my paper was going to be around what happen to the Vietnam people after the Vietnam war and their struggles to migrate to other countries. This seemed to be a very interesting topic to cover to know where are they now and how they feel about the war. Located a woman in her late 40s from Vietnam, her family has migrated to American when she was just 5 years old. This topic seemed to be very sensitive for her to talk about, I brought to much pain to talk about her parents that didn't survive the Vietnam war. After this failed attempt to interview a Vietnamese migrant, I wondered how the press was reporting out to the world of what was really happening in Vietnam.

The role public media played in the Vietnam war was unprecedented: television brought live images even video clips to Americans’ sitting room, photographs and reports from the war front brought the latest news of the battles, documentaries and films depicted the sensational stories from the war and war heroes. Bearing so many social influences, medias were somewhat blamed for being responsible for the loss of war by many historians. Most of them attributed the responsibility to the television which undermined the political and military efforts, and to the journalists and broadcasters who opposed the war---finally led to the burst of domestic anti-war sentiments. But that is not true. (New American Nation) With eloquent supporting evidence, U.S. domestic medias during the Vietnam war was not the major contributor to the cease-fire and the loss of the Vietnam because they pertain supportive biases within reports in general. Also for their effort of postponing yet hampering the transfer of sensitive reports to the public under government censorship. Lastly for the ineffectiveness of reports in changing public opinion shown in the poll.