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Vietnam War
editThe US conflict in Vietnam saw the tools and access available to war correspondents expanded significantly. Innovations such as cheap and reliable hand-held color video cameras, and the proliferation of television sets in Western homes give Vietnam-era correspondents the ability to portray conditions on the ground more vividly and accurately than ever before. Additionally, the US Military allowed unprecedented access for journalists, with almost no restrictions on the press[1], unlike in previous conflicts. These factors produced military coverage the likes of which had never been seen or anticipated, with explicit coverage of the human suffering produced by the war available right in the livingrooms of everyday people[2].
Vietnam-era war correspondence was markedly different from that of WWI and WWII, with more focus on investigative journalism and discussion of the ethics surrounding the war and America's role in it[2]. Reporters from dozens of media outlets were dispatched to Vietnam, with the number of correspondents surpassing 400 at the peak of the war[3]. Vietnam was a dangerous war for these journalists, and 68 would be killed before the conflict came to a close[1].
Many within the US Government and elsewhere would blame the media for the American failure in Vietnam, claiming that media focus on atrocities, the horrors of combat and the impact on soldiers damaged moral and eliminated support for the war at home[4]. Unlike in older conflicts, where Allied journalism was almost universally supportive of the war effort, journalists in the Vietnam theater were often harshly critical of the US military, and painted a very bleak picture of the war[2]. In an era where the media was already playing a significant role in domestic events such as the Civil Rights Movement, war correspondence in Vietnam would have a major impact on the American political scene. Some have argued that the conduct of war correspondents in Vietnam is to blame for the tightening of restrictions on journalists by the US in wars that followed, including the Persian Gulf war and the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan[1].
Persian Gulf War
editThe role of war correspondents in the Persian Gulf war would prove to be quite different from their role in Vietnam. The Pentagon blamed the media for the loss of the Vietnam war[4], and prominent military leaders did not believe the United States could sustain a prolonged and heavily televised war[5]. As a result numerous restrictions were placed on the activities of correspondents covering the war in the Gulf. Journalists allowed to accompany the troops were organized into "pools", where small groups were escorted into combat zones by US troops and allowed to share their findings later[5]. Those who attempted to strike out on their own and operate outside the pool system claim to have found themselves obstructed directly or indirectly by the military, with passport visas revoked and photographs and notes taken by force from journalists while US forces observed[1].
Beyond military efforts to control the press, observers noted that press reaction to the Gulf War was markedly different from that of Vietnam. Critics claim that coverage of the war was "jingoistic" and overly favorable towards American forces, in harsh contrast to the criticism and muckraking that had characterized coverage of Vietnam[6]. Journalists like CNN's Peter Arnett were lambasted for reporting anything that could be construed as contrary to the war effort, and commentators observed that coverage of the war in general was "saccharine" and heavily biased towards the American account[6].
These trends would continue into the Afghanistan and Iraq wars, where the pool model was replaced by a new system of Embedded journalism.[1][3]
- ^ a b c d e Mitchell, Bill (December 9th 2002). "When a Journalist Goes to War". Retrieved December 10th 2015.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|access-date=and|date=(help) - ^ a b c Hammond, William (1998). Reporting Vietnam: Media & Military at War (vol. 1). University Press of Kansas.
- ^ a b "The war without end is a war with hardly any news coverage". www.niemanwatchdog.org. Retrieved 2015-12-11.
- ^ a b Hallin, Daniel (1986). The Uncensored War : The Media and the Vietnam War. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0198020864.
- ^ a b "The persian gulf war - Television". www.americanforeignrelations.com. Retrieved 2015-12-11.
- ^ a b Bennett, W. Lance, Paletz, David L. (1994). Taken by Storm: The Media, Public Opinion, and U.S. Foreign Policy in the Gulf War. University of Chicago Press. ISBN 0226042596.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)