Vietnam War and Media
Media Transformations:
Can media help win – or lose – a war? Answer through detailed discussion of coverage in one war since 1945.
Introduction:
The Vietnam War could be characterized as one of the most controversial incident in America’s history. United States acted paradoxically; they claimed that they protected democracy, they raised an oppressive dictatorial regime in the area of South Vietnam and later the US army was destroying villages in order to protect them (Wiest, 2002). In terms of media, the Vietnam War was the first war, which was extensively televised. Marshall McLuhan, a Canadian communication theorist said: “Television brought the brutality of war into the comfort of the living room. Vietnam was lost in the living rooms of America- not on the battlefields of Vietnam,” (Hallin, 1986). After the Vietnam War reporters and cameramen changed the style of reporting the events of similar conflicts. The press was recognised as a sort of “fourth branch of government” (Hallin, 1986). During the Vietnam War, the American media exercised a powerful check on government’s decisions and actions. Certainly media did not act as a collaborator. Media’s job in previous wars was to keep the public optimistic and panic free. Contrariwise, during the Vietnam War the media roused the citizens about the government’s actions and intentions. Did media play a key role at the Vietnam War? What did actually happen in the jungles of Vietnam some decades ago and what was the public told by the media about it? Who were the real protagonists of the Vietnam War? The soldiers fighting in Vietnam’s battlefields, the politicians arguing in the Pentagon, the correspondent journalists or the American public?
An Overview of the Vietnam War: 2514600161925 The Vietnam War also known as the Second Indochina War started on the 1st of November 1955 and ended after the fall of Saigon on the 30th April 1975. This War grew out of conflicts among Vietnamese and colonial
Can media help win – or lose – a war? Answer through detailed discussion of coverage in one war since 1945.
Introduction:
The Vietnam War could be characterized as one of the most controversial incident in America’s history. United States acted paradoxically; they claimed that they protected democracy, they raised an oppressive dictatorial regime in the area of South Vietnam and later the US army was destroying villages in order to protect them (Wiest, 2002). In terms of media, the Vietnam War was the first war, which was extensively televised. Marshall McLuhan, a Canadian communication theorist said: “Television brought the brutality of war into the comfort of the living room. Vietnam was lost in the living rooms of America- not on the battlefields of Vietnam,” (Hallin, 1986). After the Vietnam War reporters and cameramen changed the style of reporting the events of similar conflicts. The press was recognised as a sort of “fourth branch of government” (Hallin, 1986). During the Vietnam War, the American media exercised a powerful check on government’s decisions and actions. Certainly media did not act as a collaborator. Media’s job in previous wars was to keep the public optimistic and panic free. Contrariwise, during the Vietnam War the media roused the citizens about the government’s actions and intentions. Did media play a key role at the Vietnam War? What did actually happen in the jungles of Vietnam some decades ago and what was the public told by the media about it? Who were the real protagonists of the Vietnam War? The soldiers fighting in Vietnam’s battlefields, the politicians arguing in the Pentagon, the correspondent journalists or the American public?
An Overview of the Vietnam War: 2514600161925 The Vietnam War also known as the Second Indochina War started on the 1st of November 1955 and ended after the fall of Saigon on the 30th April 1975. This War grew out of conflicts among Vietnamese and colonial
Bibliography: Berg, R. (1991) "Losing Vietnam: Covering The War In An Age Of Technology." New York: Columbia University Press Brigham R Hall M. (2008), The Vietnam War, 2nd edition, Harlow: Longman Hallin D Wiest Andrew (2002), The Vietnam War: 1956-1975, Oxford: Osprey