Media In Military

By nature, the role of the media is to tell the people what is going on. In the case of the Vietnam war, the most important role became to inform the people ‘at home’ how the boys in Indochina were doing. The current consensus is � with the restrictions imposed on the US troops in Vietnam � that the US never had a realistic chance in the Vietnam conflict. As one Vietnam veteran puts it: it was the “politicians [who] lost the war in Vietnam, by declaring we couldn’t go into Cambodia and Laos, which is where the NVA strongholds were.” (Melnick 2002)

The Vietnam War proved to governments all over the world that, in order to have a successful military campaign, some form of censorship needs to take place. The Washington Post has reported that due to the effects of the media in Vietnam, “every U.S. military engagement since… has featured attempts to control the media” (Hajela 2006, para. 13) which demonstrates how, since Vietnam, governments have been trying to avoid a similar reaction. Journalists who also reported in Vietnam recall interviewing generals with media handlers present in later conflicts, and mention, in relation to the censorship in Vietnam that, “[they] don't think that in our lifetimes we will ever see that kind of freedom again.” (Hajela 2006, para. 14) The Vietnam War not only made people aware of the need for censorship, but also the power the media holds, which was made clear in the changing attitudes of the media. This is made clear through public reactions and the timing of which they began to support withdrawals from Vietnam. The Department of Veterans’ Affairs, of the Australian government, highlights the power of the media, stating that, “opposition to the war, as the ALP had learnt to its cost in 1966, was not a vote winner… [however in] 1969… it was electorally popular to oppose the war,” (Australian Government Department of Veterans’ Affairs 2015, para. 2) This emphasises the power of the

Powerful words these scholars use such as ‘decisive’, suggest the true extent of the medias’ impact. In the end it was the public pressures the media itself created through its strongly emotive coverage that was a deciding factor in America’s continued involvement in Vietnam. The historic decision to demobilize to satisfy public opinion proved to be a significant aspect in why the United States lost the war in Vietnam.

The Vietnam War was the first televised war. This allowed news stations to bring the battles right to the television screen in someone’s home. The Vietnamese would use the American media to express their thoughts to the Americans. Americans were also able to see the brutal combat that was happening and get a first-hand experience of the war. Reporters had the ability to skew Americans’ views of the war by the way they reported. Since the Vietnam War was televised many people were influenced by the images they saw on their home television and caused them to take action.

Still today the media affects the way people think about a war. It is almost as if the media decides who wins the war and who loses the war. Take for example World War II where we lost battle after battle. The media mostly talked about when we were victorious and how patriotic everyone should be for our country. It may be the fact that we were attacked on our own soil which made the war seems justifiable, but there are other wars where the media thought otherwise. The one that people notice and remember the most is Vietnam War. This was the first war that people could actually see on television. It made the war come into the people’s own homes. Know the public knows how brutal wars can be and the cause of destructions from both sides but then they were just not sure. They knew that people died but they never had to see it. See the United States won almost every battle in the Vietnam War but somehow lost the war. The media only talked about how bad the war was and showed the United States losing or just fighting where it looks like we lost. The media even claimed that we lost battles that we had won. It made the general public think that the war was useless and we were giving up lives for a lost cause. The Vietnamese never attacked us so why should we attack them ran through people's minds. Patriotism was nowhere to be found in the media. Just strikes against the war in

Operation Iraqi Freedom saw a new rise in media censorship for embedded journalists, before departing their country of origin and being embedded with a military unit journalists were required to undergo joint training and sign contracts vowing not to report information that could compromise unit position, future missions, classified weapons, and information they might find during their time in the field. When asked about the purpose of the embedded journalists and these new restrictions Lt. Col. Rick Long of the U.S. Marine Corps replied "Our job is to win the war. Part of that is information warfare. So we are going to attempt to dominate the information environment.” Journalism from the front was no longer being used as a method of information broadcasting for concerned families and civilians at home, but to ensure proper reception of the war and shape public opinion not only in the United States, but the world as a whole.

War is truly a horrific event that unfortunately occurs in our world frequently. There are a variety of ethical questions surrounding war, such as how much should citizens know about the fighting? When it comes to reporting the news, it is the goal of the network to report the news first. The benefit to this is people will turn to them first when it comes to breaking stories. However if the news is delivered based on speed and not accuracy this can be harmful to society. War is a very serious event and should not be taken lightly. Therefore, reporters must make sure facts are correct and unbiased. In both the Vietnam War and our current war we see reporters going to extreme measures to be the first

First, the media impacted the war even more because of how it changed over the time the war lasted. “The media began to influence public opinion in a negative way, and that became a matter of concern to the government.” (Rohn) This explains how the media impacted the war by giving citizens a negative view of the war, which concerned the government because it could cause a riot to start among people. “Additionally, intense visuals helped explain the complex nature of war to Americans who could not understand the military's technical language.” (McLaughlin) The images of the war explained what the soldiers were

The Gulf War and the Iraq war can reflect the tension between a phenomenon is that the United States and the Middle East. The American media reported on the two Gulf War had many similarities. In the recent ten years, with the development of social economy and media technology has increased democratization, media reports and presents new features about the media. The topic of what the role of wars in the society has been discussed for many people. Some people argue that during the war, everything should be in the national interest as the highest criterion, the media is no exception. And a lot of media for patriotic purpose, take the initiative to give up the impartial and objective stance, they volunteered to become the government and the army sounder however, there is also a part of the media that keep the objective position, should not violate their occupation ethics. In fact, the American media on the first Gulf War and the recent war in Iraq The reports have proved that when the war broke out, the truth of the matter is often the first victim.

Media played an important yet controversial role during the Vietnam War. I have learned more and more about this infamous war, the main point being that it was the first war to have broadcast the fighting in people’s homes. I will say, I do not know much about the Vietnam War from a media and journalism standpoint. In past courses, only the history and events that unfolded were covered or discussed. I know many protests, however, broke out in the United States over the use of media. People could actually see what was happening abroad rather than assuming or ignoring it completely.

To understand how the media plays a role in America’s perception of war it is important to understand the term media literacy. Media literacy is the ability to access, analyze, evaluate, and create media. Media literacy is important to understand when it comes to the issue of going to war because without media literacy a person may not be able to distinguish truth from false, or biased opinions from unbiased opinions. Media literacy is also important in understanding how the media is biased, how the media influences how Americans think, and how the media is censored.

With limited access due to short periods being stationed with troops in camp and on missions, the reporter was forced to obtain information from military briefing rooms. In 2003 the Iraq War broke out and unlike the previous Gulf Wars, the military had expanded its embedding program. In which news outlets took advantage of this opportunity resulting in hundreds of journalists being embedded. This resulted in an unfavourable divide within conflict reporting. There are two sides. First that of the embed who is within the military and the other being the unilateral's who is often accredited but unembedded. The unilateral has freedom and the independence to select what they want to shoot. In opposition, the embed is confined to the military’s set route. Thought the unilateral is seen to be a nuisance due to their freedom of their movements so the military restricts their movements because an area has already been designated to an embed who takes priority over the unembedded.

In times of War, the media plays a crucial role both in reporting, monitoring and giving updates. During the Vietnam War of 1955-1975, the American press played crucial roles of reporting until it ended up shifting its tone under the influence of occurrence of some events like the Tet Offensive, the My Lai Massacre, the bombing of Cambodia and leaking of Pentagon papers resulting into lack of trust in the press (Knightly 1975). From the beginning of the war up to present times there have been undying debates over the role of media in the war. The have been various criticisms over the American News Media’s actions and influences on the outcome of the war. The debate is embedded on the particular political assumptions perceived across the

Philip Seib (2013) examines war and the media in a way that stimulates thinking about how war’s place within the public sphere is influenced by media, and how the definition of news media has expanded (3). The main driving point behind Sieb’s introduction is that the media has retreated from its proper place within the public sphere, which is to monitor discourse and encourage a broad array of voices to participate in debate

Thousands of our nation's men and women were fighting for their country, yet the media limited the amount of information that they chose to pass on to the public. Each day the media is faced with the choice of making decisions of what news to pass on, when that news could make a significant difference in someone's life, or in the fate of our nation.