Vietnam War Outcome Influenced by the Media

Such coverage, along with the vivid images that emerge on T.V. led to a serious rise in anti-war protest that was merely strengthened by the events of 1968. The Tet Offensive of 1968 marked the greatest conflict in beliefs of the United Stated government and the media. In January, North Vietnamese troops attacked the North cities of South Vietnam and the U.S. embassy in Saigon. The media and the television, however, portrayed the attack as a brutal defeat for the U.S, totally altering the outcome of the war at the very moment when government officials were publicly stating that victory in Vietnam was "just around the corner" (Wyatt 167)[8]. The media covered all the events that immediately followed the Tet Offensive and the American public began wondering whether this war could be won. Don Oberdorfer a Washington reporter said that “there’s no doubt Tet was one of the biggest events in contemporary American history, within two months the, American body politically turned around on the war. And they were significantly

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.

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

Vietnam was an entirely new type of war for the United States. It still remains morally and historically problematic in today’s society. The Vietnam War had a tremendous impact on American society and culture, primarily because it was the first war to be televised. The American press played a significant

The Vietnam War had no restrictions on what the media could and couldn’t cover, making a very public war. Journalists from big companies and small towns went to Vietnam to cover what was happening. Some went for the excitement and adventure. Others wanted to be on page one and be part of the exclusive combat correspondent club. These journalists were taking any information they could get and were sending it back to for American people to view. These journalists could even go into North Vietnam, if they had the courage too. Some journalists, based of what they saw, believed that the war was unwinnable. The military ended up blaming the media for the loss because the turned the American people against the troops in Vietnam through the information

One of the most defining features of the conflict in Vietnam is the lack of censorship and the resulting public condemnation of the war, which many say was what lead to American failure in their retreat from Vietnam. Due to unrestrained media access and widespread publication of negative information during the Vietnam War, and the consequential public outcry against involvement, censorship could be altered and carried out in a more practical way for following conflicts. The freedom with which the Vietnam War was reported exposed the public to information that had previously been withheld, ultimately affecting the opinions of the government at the time and influencing future politicians to resort back to censorship in order to keep favour within

The best-known image of this is a South Vietnamese general shooting an unarmed North Vietnamese soldier. Many people were outraged that the U.S. was supporting such cruel people. The media emphasized this and did not tell the complete story. What Americans did not know was that North Vietnamese soldier had attack that officer’s family and almost killed them. If the media told the entire story, no they would not have sold all of the papers, but Americans might not have been as outraged as they were.

By 1968, more than half of the American people relied on television as their principal source of news. What they saw informed, engrossed, and unsettled them. CBS Evening News anchor Harry Reasoner referred to it as “horrors and failures.” The Vietnam War dominated the network newscast as it never had before. Suddenly the war was everywhere. The impact on the American public would indeed be great. It set off a critical reaction to the war within the American media and gave greater credence to arguments against the war that a vocal protest movement had been voicing for some time. The media coverage of the Tet Offensive had a great influence on the eventual outcome of the fighting and its aftermath. Clarence Wyatt, author of Paper

Vietnam was a very well known place in the media,because of the whole war between the united states and north vietnam it made the media notes all the thing that happened. Although many were killed because of the war, many other were also staying in saigon to be safe. This war was really know for being the first war to make it to the television as the first television war. The credibility gap: Is a term that came into wide use with journalism,political and public discourse in the united states during the 1960s and 1970s.

Photojournalist, James Nachtwey captured pictures of American soldiers on the battlefield during the war, the images were filled with dead soldiers, fighting and bombing missions. The photos were very graphic and filled with emotion which is the reason many people cared about the events happening during the war so much. Reporters who covered the Vietnam War over the radio and television gave the public the “PG version” of the events happening, basically they were reporting and writing very vague descriptions of the war. Journalists didn’t actually know what was going on in Vietnam so they gave the public information based on their interpretation. Society did not learn the truth until documentary photographers revealed graphic photos of the war to newspaper companies.

The investigation assesses the media coverage of the Tet Offensive and its impact on American policy concerning the Vietnam War from 1968 until 1969. The investigation evaluates the contrast between media broadcasts and government reports of the war, the effect of the media on the American public, and the effect of American public opinion on President Lyndon B. Johnson’s course of action. Two of the sources, Vietnam and America: A Documented History by Marvin E. Gettleman, Jane Franklin, Marilyn Young, and H. Bruce Franklin, and The “Uncensored War”: The Media and Vietnam by Daniel C. Hallin are examined.

As more and more troops were being sent to Vietnam, and the casualties began to rise, people began to question the government’s involvement. “Even military troops came to mistrust their government’s reasons for keeping them there, as well as Washington’s claims that the war was being won”.(Vietnam War) The Vietnam war was the first war to be broadcast on television. This meant that for the first time the American people were able to see the war instead of just hearing about it on the radio. They were able to see firsthand the soldier’s faces, see the reality of where they were fighting and to see the

“The Vietnam War was one of the most publicized wars in all of American history” (ows.edb.utexas.edu). As a result the media played a very important role in the war. It had a very powerful effect on americans opinion on the subject, because this was the first time they got to see what was actually happening right on their living room tv’s.The media mostly covered the horrors of the war which made many americans turn against it and look down on the soldiers who fought in it.

war the enemy would be in uniform and it was clear who to kill who not

Vietnam was a country divided into two by communism in the North and capitalism in the South. The Vietnam War, fought between the years 1959 and 1975, was, in essence, a struggle by nationalists in the north to unify the nation under a communist government. This was a long standing conflict between the two sides that had been occurring for years. It wasn’t until 1959 when the USA, stepped in, on the side of southern Vietnamese, to stop the spread of communism. It was a war that did not capture the hearts and minds of the American people as it was viewed as a war that the US army couldn’t win and so the government lost the peoples support for the war. This ultimately led to the withdrawal of the US army from Vietnam. Some people, like