Media Analysis: The Vietnam War
The Vietnam War is often interpreted by historians as a ‘Television war’ in which the unqualified access to uncensored war footage and inaccuracies with media reports caused public disillusionment. Historians such as Peter Braestrup and Mark Woodruff have argued that the Tết Offensive was undermined by a media fallacy by causing the demise of public support for the Vietnam War. The media fallacy was the misinterpretation of available evidence on the behalf of western journalists. This view is supported by the inconsistencies between media reports and the genuine outcome of this conflict. These inconsistencies are illustrated in the public perception of the South Vietnamese, the misinterpreted attack on the US embassy, the city of Huế and the
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This theory deduces that moral force and leadership dictate social attitudes . The easiest was to dehumanise the enemy and influence the moral beliefs of society is to use racism. Historian Phillip Knightley argued that the government promotion of “blind hatred” directed at the ‘Charlie Cong’ provided no distinguishing between the South Vietnamese and the North Vietnamese. Knightley argued that this was a disastrous policy that undermined public support in the Tết Offensive as all Vietnamese became known as “dinks”, “slants”, or “gooks” . The motive to liberate the South Vietnamese was thus lost as the morality of attitudes towards the South Vietnamese degenerated. RAND researcher Bernard Schwarz asserted that the Tết Offensive did not lessen public opinion against the war but only towards government policy . Schwarz’s use of polling data discredited the ‘Television war’ postulate as he found no relationship between media reporting and the decline of public …show more content…
Vietcong Execution. Saigon, 1968
Arnold, James. Tết Offensive 1968: Turning Point in Vietnam. London: Osprey, 1990
Badsey, Stephen. The Media and International Security. London: Routledge, 2000
Bates, Milton. Et al. Reporting Vietnam: American Journalism 1959-1975. New York: Library of America
Baritz, Loren. Backfire: A History of How American Culture Led Us into Vietnam and Made Us Fight the Way We Did. New York: W. Morrow, 1985
Bishop, Donald. 25 October 2002. The Press and the Tết Offensive. Online. 22July 2006. <http://www.airpower.maxwell.af.mil/airchronicles/aureview/1978/nov-dec/bishop.html>
Braestrup, Peter. The Big Story. Boulder: Westview Press, 1977
Chomsky, Noam. Language and Politics. Oakland, CA: AK Press, 2004
Cronkite, Walter. We Are Mired In Stalemate. Walter Cronkite/CBS News, February 27 1968.
Daiker, William. Ho Chi Minh - A Life. New York: Allen & Unwin, 2000
Darley, William. 12 May 2005. War Policy, Public Support, and the Media. Online. 22 July 2006. <http://www.carlisle.army.mil/usawc/Parameters/05summer/darley.htm>
Darley, William. “Clausewitz’s Theory of War and Information Operations”. Ndupress:
This theory deduces that moral force and leadership dictate social attitudes . The easiest was to dehumanise the enemy and influence the moral beliefs of society is to use racism. Historian Phillip Knightley argued that the government promotion of “blind hatred” directed at the ‘Charlie Cong’ provided no distinguishing between the South Vietnamese and the North Vietnamese. Knightley argued that this was a disastrous policy that undermined public support in the Tết Offensive as all Vietnamese became known as “dinks”, “slants”, or “gooks” . The motive to liberate the South Vietnamese was thus lost as the morality of attitudes towards the South Vietnamese degenerated. RAND researcher Bernard Schwarz asserted that the Tết Offensive did not lessen public opinion against the war but only towards government policy . Schwarz’s use of polling data discredited the ‘Television war’ postulate as he found no relationship between media reporting and the decline of public …show more content…
Vietcong Execution. Saigon, 1968
Arnold, James. Tết Offensive 1968: Turning Point in Vietnam. London: Osprey, 1990
Badsey, Stephen. The Media and International Security. London: Routledge, 2000
Bates, Milton. Et al. Reporting Vietnam: American Journalism 1959-1975. New York: Library of America
Baritz, Loren. Backfire: A History of How American Culture Led Us into Vietnam and Made Us Fight the Way We Did. New York: W. Morrow, 1985
Bishop, Donald. 25 October 2002. The Press and the Tết Offensive. Online. 22July 2006. <http://www.airpower.maxwell.af.mil/airchronicles/aureview/1978/nov-dec/bishop.html>
Braestrup, Peter. The Big Story. Boulder: Westview Press, 1977
Chomsky, Noam. Language and Politics. Oakland, CA: AK Press, 2004
Cronkite, Walter. We Are Mired In Stalemate. Walter Cronkite/CBS News, February 27 1968.
Daiker, William. Ho Chi Minh - A Life. New York: Allen & Unwin, 2000
Darley, William. 12 May 2005. War Policy, Public Support, and the Media. Online. 22 July 2006. <http://www.carlisle.army.mil/usawc/Parameters/05summer/darley.htm>
Darley, William. “Clausewitz’s Theory of War and Information Operations”. Ndupress: