imbedded journalists Essay

The Vietnam War was the first war that allowed uncensored media coverage resulting in images and accounts of horrific events that served to shape public opinion of the war like nothing that had been seen before. This portrayal by the media led to a separation between the press and the U.S. government, as much of what was reported defied the intentions of government policy. The media has fell blame by many for the result of the war, as it is widely believed that the war could not have been won under the scrutiny that came from the American people as a result of the media

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.

The public was on board the war train for the first few years of the war, until they found out what it was actually like in Vietnam. Public view of the war immediately changed negatively. When the news reached the soldiers in Vietnam, reactions were mixed. While they could understand why the people didn't like the prospect of war, they were still killing-even when they didn't want to-for their country. Some soldiers didn't know how to respond. One solder wrote to his mother and told her that for one second he felt as if he was on vacation because it was so beautiful in Vietnam. Another one told his mom “not to worry, there is nothing I can't handle”. While the soldiers could handle the physical horrors happening to them, it was the mental stuff that was breaking them down.

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

Let’s also keep in mind that the Vietnam War was the first war to receive such extensive media coverage ever.

On January 30, 1968, during Vietnam’s Tet celebration, VC and NVA units launched a immense attack in all of South Vietnam's provinces. They had struck 30 provincial capitals along with major cities Saigon and Hue. The Tet Offensive shocked Americans at home who thought the war near victory and the homefront support for war effort grew. CBS news reporter Walter Cronkite returned to Vietnam to see what was happening; He had been a war correspondent during World War II and reported from Vietnam when America was early involved. There was even a poll In 1972 that determined he was “the most trusted man in America.” On February 27, 1968 a broadcast summed up what he found during his return to the war zone. He closed by saying:“To say that we are closer to victory today is to believe, in the face of the evidence, the optimists who have been wrong in the past. To suggest we are on the edge of defeat is to yield to unreasonable pessimism. To say that we are mired in stalemate seems the only realistic, yet unsatisfactory, conclusion. On the off chance that military and political analysts are right, in the next few months we must test the enemy’s intentions, in case this is indeed his last big gasp before negotiations. But it is increasingly clear to this

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

Whilst, towards the beginning of the war, the media being released was largely in support of the war efforts, later years of the conflict exhibited a more negative press, where more negative portrayals of troops were being sent home and featured on the news. Bias of the media played a large part in moulding public opinion of the conflict going on in Vietnam, exemplified in media reports of the Tet Offensive which, “was actually a U.S victory because the North suffered enormous casualties. Television, however, portrayed the attack as a brutal defeat for the U.S” (McLaughlin 2015, The Turning Point, para. 2). As hypothesised by David Halberstam, Vietnam was, “the first time in American history a war had been declared over by an anchor man,” (Hallin n.d., para. 9) when Walter Cronkite, “[expressed] his view that the war was unwinnable, and that the United States would have to find a way out.” (Hallin n.d., para. 9) Many speculations about the media defining public opinion about the war are made largely due to the fact that civilian opinion changed as media reports began to become more negative, which then lead to many anti-war protests and the withdrawal of troops from Vietnam. Due to the negative effects the lack of censorship had on the public during Vietnam, the government recognised the power of the media and changed censorship practices for following

During this time period, the use of television boomed, and for the first time was depended on and trusted significantly more than newspapers. “[Even though] the coverage of the war was significant, a relatively small portion of the coverage was actually combat footage (Anderson). Although producers captured thousands of hours worth of combat footage, they could not push out all of the coverage they captured, “The purpose being not to avoid showing the ugly side of war, but rather to avoid offending families of war victims" (Hallin). The media did not intentionally try to turn america against the war, to the contrary the media saw the war necessary to national security. However, as the war continued on in vietnam and watched daily in living rooms across the country, both the american soldiers and the public became disillusioned as they did not see an end to the war

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

People’s opinion on the war was greatly influenced by the media. During the Vietnam War, the horrors that were happening on the battlefield were shown to Americans in their living rooms. There was no censorship meaning Americans back home saw dead bodies, Vietnamese children being shot and villages being burnt, all done by American Soldiers. Watching children, babies and old people being killed caused people to label soldiers as murderers and baby killers. Before Vietnam, soldiers had always been shown in a heroic way. But now, reporters would show only parts of a story, the parts that made soldiers look bad. In the Vietnam War, reporters could literally follow soldiers onto the battle fields and show it on television. Also, most photographers were interested in showing the bad aspects of the war such as the remaining destroyed village of Vietnamese or the suffering of soldiers. The media built stereotypes of soldiers at war as part of anti- war protests so photographers would show the parts that benefited anti-war protests and captured only half the story in his photograph. For

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.

The relationship between the media and the military is a complex one. There is a constant challenge of determining how important it is for the American Citizens to be aware of what the government is doing, especially as a democracy. This brings about the issue of whether or not the media press should report all of the sensitive information that they obtain about the military and its operations. With this issue, there is a struggle of determining what press policies the military should implement in order to maintain the balance between transparency and national security. The effect of media is not only to provide information but a general understanding to the American Citizens about how the military

At the beginning of television news an arrangement existed between television journalists and the public. It was look at as that in modern times promotion journalism was normal. The United States was the modern, broadminded leader of the free world. When Walter Cronkite reported on the daily count of deaths of American soldiers in Vietnam, in lead to the antiwar disapprovals of the 1960s. One man changed how the United States look at the war with his power and influence to change people opinions. (Mann)

During the war, American journalism reporters were believed to only give facts which were only relevant and official. According to Daniel Miller(2004) this believe stirred doomed objectivity giving way to official influence which hindered success of Kennedy’s policies in Vietnam. As picture about the war appeared in the media criticizing the manner in which the war was being carried out in South Vietnamese, people become pessimistic about the success of the Saigon government. While other picture appearing in the media supported the Americans who had advised the Saigon Government