Vietnam war in media

Question 1

why did LBJ call the president of CBS?

Answer 1

LBK called frank Stanton to tell him that his news coverage of American troops burning villages and killing babies and elderly had “shit on the American flag”

Question 2

how did the attitude of the media change towards the war?

Answer 2

initially it had been supportive of the war but had become increasingly critical as the war went on.

Question 3

what was the opinion of televised news?

Answer 3

there were doubts over the credentials of Tv journalists and print journalists looked down upon them. but by 1972 64% of people greater trusted tv news

Question 4

how did the Vietnam war change TV coverage?

Answer 4

there were only 3 networks at the time, which showed 30 minute specials of coverage of the war. the presenters became as famous as movie stars

Question 5

what were the pros in the coverage of the war?

Answer 5

there was a lack of censorship of the conflict and reporters had access to military frontlines flying into war zones with soldiers

Question 6

what were the cons of coverage in the war?

Answer 6

there was a large risk to journalists with 63 being killed, it was difficult to capture guerrilla conflict on camera, the cumbersome technology made it difficult to film at night and had to send film back to the US

Question 7

what was the impact of the war on journalism?

Answer 7

after the war the US rethought how much access the press would have to war, and added more restrictions to where they could go. they banned the showing of dead Americans on TV

Question 8

how was the war broadcast?

Answer 8

not much was presented about the North Vietnamese and all networks portrayed the soldiers as hero’s. it was presented as Good vs Evil but later showed the Americans as the aggressors

Question 9

what was the impact of showing the uncensored war?

Answer 9

Tv fails to capture the true face of war but there was a perception that what was shown on TV was turning people against the war but this was untrue as it rarely showed the destruction of people

Question 10

what were some of the weakness of Tv?

Answer 10

they were weak at exposing atrocities and often focused on the narrow legal routes to justify massacres

Question 11

was the media pro or anti war?

Answer 11

the media was initially more pro war but after the tet offensive more negative reports and more coverage of the anti war movement.

Question 12

what kind of coverage was television showing?

Answer 12

early coverage was of human stories from soldiers, showing less death of Americans which declined after tet.
the media showed the live execution of a VC which associated the US to the execution turning people against the war.

Question 13

how was Tv more effective at portraying the war?

Answer 13

it gave a visual medium to the war showing it in a way the papers could not. some saw to as false perception of the war only showing senseless killing.

Question 14

what is the effect the media had on the war?

Answer 14

there is no measure of how much media coverage shaped the outcome of the war. and there is no direct relationship between media themes and change in mass public opinion.

Question 15

what are some of the assumptions about the media’s impact of the war?

Answer 15

the hawks in govt argued that if the media had been more supportive then they would have won the war and there would not have been so much anti war sentiment.

Question 16

how does film shape the perception of the war over time?

Answer 16

movies played a role in how the war was remembered and how veterans were treated. it had role in public perception of the war and created a stereotype around it

Question 17

what was the film industry’s attitude towards the war?

Answer 17

film had become an intellectual statement and art piece. Hollywood avoided making film about the war whilst it was happening. but some such as MAS*H would comment about FP implying Vietnam.

Question 18

what were the different waves of films about Vietnam?

Answer 18

the first wave in the 1970s demonstrated the horrors of war and presented the veterans as victims and placed the blame on govt failure e.g coming home, the deer hunter, apocalypse now
the second wave in the 1980s was an attempt to glorify American military power such as in Rambo

Question 19

how did Rambo change perception of Vietnam?

Answer 19

Rambo ii was an attempt to rewrite the war with by showing that American soldiers didn’t lose but rather the American govt failed them

Question 20

what was the perception of the news media after the war?

Answer 20

seen as having betrayed America with certain organisations and journalists distorting the war for their own agenda

Question 21

what were the level of restrictions on journalists?

Answer 21

very few restrictions and only had to agree to ground rules which wouldn’t reveal future strategic plans and wouldn’t report the number of dead soldiers

Question 22

what was the central problem with the relationship between press and government?

Answer 22

the press were dependant on the government for information, the govt exploited this and used it to shape the news.

Question 23

How did the media handle the My Lai massacre?

Answer 23

initially no outlet touched the story despite good investigation from one soldier who collected accounts, only when a small organisation was going to run the story did the other media report it.

Question 24

what did the pentagon papers demonstrate about media restrictions?

Answer 24

despite revealing govt lies, the story was not broken in Vietnam and as with My Lai was Brough to light by an insider not outside investigation.

Question 25

what other forces was the media being shaped by outside vietnam?

Answer 25

news had become big business and organisations were subject to regulations as well as regulations and commissions. news stories had to develop viewers for profit

Question 26

why was Vietnam presented more positively in the 1980s?

Answer 26

America wanted to move forward and past the mistakes of the war. Reagan wanted to kick Vietnam syndrome in FP and culture.

Question 27

what was the change in attitude in the media after the Tet offensive?

Answer 27

after tet more people professed themselves hawks but it did create the perception that the war was going badly.

Question 28

what did the media depiction of the tet offensive show?

Answer 28

the footage showed a chaotic scene of the fighting in Saigon and depicted dead civilians. showed the war as out of control.

Question 29

was the media anti war?

Answer 29

the media was never anti war, intially it was supportive and after tet it only began to question when the troops would be leaving not that America was in the wrong or not good.

Question 30

how did the media report My Lai?

Answer 30

they didn’t focus much on the actual massacre and called it an alleged massacre. focused on the legal troubles of Lt. Calley and many in the general public didn’t believe the massacre happened.

Question 31

what was the attitude of the media towards the Nixon administration?

Answer 31

those within the media had become personally hostile towards the administration as there was great tension between the media and the White House

Question 32

How did the media report on the pentagon papers?

Answer 32

very little focus was on the substance of the papers but rather focused on how
such a document could be leaked

Question 33

what does Daniel Hallin argue about how the media shaped opinion?

Answer 33

he argues whilst Tv brought bad news it never examined why it was bad, and never questioned the war in more detail. the extent of media influence could have never been measured.