In the spring of 1965, US troops were deployed to Vietnam. At this time, newspapers, radio, and television networks sent their journalists to report on the war. At one point, there were around 600 journalists in Vietnam. The United States Military Assistance Command even helped journalists by giving them military transportation. Their close proximity to the war resulted in the death of more than 60 journalists. However, not all journalists were on the battlefield. Many gathered stories from the United States Public Office’s daily briefings in Saigon. The effect of this extensive media coverage is widely debated.
The uncensored press were given great access to the Vietnam War and the stories they collected often were broadcasted in homes across the country. One side believes that the media created a disadvantage for the United State by providing information to North Vietnam and decreasing support for the war at home. These factors are said to have been major reasons for US defeat. However, many historians point out that media coverage did not display US policy in a negative light until 1968. It is also argued that the increasingly negative news did not influence the American public, it merely reflected the feelings that were already there. Although journalists were uncensored, there are only a few cases where a journalist was found guilty of violating military security.
One of the major turning points of public opinion resulted from the media coverage of the US defeat of the Tet Offensive. Here, the Vietcong overtook 120 South Vietnamese locations. Although the US regained lost ground, the incident was a political defeat. Images of Marines fighting the Vietcong to save the US embassy in Saigon was a great shock to the American public. Images and videos that were shown across America like one of a South Vietnamese general executing a prisoner made the public question the morals of their allies. Once the public saw the scale of the war through the media, there was a popular feeling that they had been lied to by their leaders.
The disillusionment of the American public was produced by many factors. The increased media coverage only serves as one of those factors.
This post is a really great summary of the general feelings and timeline of the media and how it effected or was effected by the Vietnam War. The point about negative media not effecting the war, but actually reflecting American sentiments was really good, and explains a lot about the anger against Vietnam and how the media both contributed and effected the situation.
ReplyDeleteThis is a really informative post! It's really interesting to think how big of an impact media has on the public view, and how people even believe the press may have contributed to the US's defeat. I find it interesting that this trend of the media being potentially detrimental to political opinion was as present during the 60's as it is today.
ReplyDeleteI liked how you discussed the negative effects of media in the Vietnam war and how it possibly just reflected public sentiment rather than influencing it. I think this is a big change from the propaganda used in the first war to build public support and probably is one of the factors that contributed to losing public support.
ReplyDeleteI found this post very interesting on how the public viewed the war in Vietnam. I agree that the media was one of many factors that influenced the American people to dislike the war, but I think it was a very important factor. Reporters in Vietnam were constantly recording footage in combat zones, and consequently showing much of the negative aspects of the war. This was a huge shift from WW2, where reporters didn't go near combat zones, and only highlighted the happier sides of the conflict. This large shift of the media getting a bulk of their news from combat zones probably had a larger effect on the American public.
ReplyDeleteSource: https://prologue.blogs.archives.gov/2018/01/25/vietnam-the-first-television-war/
I find it interesting how revelations in communications technology always effect the status quo and political atmosphere. It might be a very far stretch, but this reminds me of in middle school when we learned that the widespread use of the printing press and paper (as apposed to velum) helped spread Martin Luthers ideas.
ReplyDelete