Impact Of Media Coverage Of The Vietnam War

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Some of the worst things that a person can imagine happen during wartime, and the reporters and photographers used that to their advantage to forever alter the way that the media approaches such tragedies. It has been said that the Vietnam War started right after the media started to be an influential piece of everyday life. More American’s were watching television for their daily fix of news, partially because it did not require them to spend hours reading, and also because it allowed them to see images of different events happening around the world. The media coverage of the Vietnam War changed the way that we view media, changed the way the networks produce media, and solidified the Vietnam War’s place as the most unpopular war of all time.
The Vietnam War was fought between 1957 and 1975 in South Vietnam and bordering areas of Cambodia and Laos, and in North Vietnam during bombing runs. The war resulted in the deaths of almost 60,000 Americans, and an estimated 2 to 4 million Vietnamese deaths. Due to the amount of women and children that died, the true death count will never be known.
Early on in the Vietnam War, many correspondents supported the war effort, just as the reporters had done in previous wars. Before the Vietnam War, the media’s job was to keep American listeners and readers optimistic and panic free. During the Korean War, U.S actions were always represented in a positive light. Once the Vietnam War started, reporters began to show their skepticism of the government’s intentions with their involvement in Vietnam. The numerous correspondents’ reports began to reflect the popular doubts that had been rising among the public, mainly because of the increasing number of casualties, both among the soldiers and civili...

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...e Tet Offensive. Many people didn’t know it at the time, but Tet was actually a U.S. victory. The North Vietnamese destroyed over a hundred South Vietnamese cities, but the amount of casualties that the North Vietnamese incurred rendered the Tet Offensive as a U.S. victory.
In conclusion, the media’s influence on the Vietnam War forever altered the way that Americans view media, and the way that the networks produce their media. By the end of the 1960’s, Americans’ opinion on the war was mostly because of the way the media, especially television reporters, portrayed the war. Not only did Americans not believe in the war anymore, most politicians didn’t either. This led to several revolts and protest against the government. The government felt the immense amount of tension from the American people and this what led to the withdrawal of all American soldiers in 1973.

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