Media During The Vietnam War Essay

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Media during the Vietnam War The Vietnam War was diverse for America for many reasons, but the dispute about the role of the media has become almost as debatable as the war itself. Americans varying opinions of the Vietnam War were influenced primarily by the media and the biased content they chose to show. A popular thought came to individuals minds after the war that the media contributed to the failure in Vietnam by oppositional information. The media influenced Americans views of the Vietnam War through the use of prejudice content and propaganda. For almost a decade, people were able to watch in between activities Vietnamese attacks, the life of a soldier, and the horrific views the soldiers had to see every day. Even …show more content…
Journalism during the Vietnam War hit a turning point when graphics and intensity of words came into play. The Journalists articles didn’t only give you information, it gave a pathological effect that the soldiers were feeling as well. Journalist would include gloomy photos of the war and then write about them but the photos sparked revolts towards the war (Rohn). These revolts didn’t only affect other people’s views but it made more people look down on the soldiers. Journalists stated their options about how the war was going and didn’t tell the people the full story of the war. Even though people could get information about the war elsewhere, reading the newspapers was something many people did. People started to want to have answers on why the United States sent their soldiers if all of them were dying and nothing was changing. The journalist chose to not tell the people the progress the soldiers were making, they just wanted to write about what the audience would respond to. After the Tet offensive, a huge launch of violent attacks of South Vietnamese villages, the media grew more popular and more adverse. Journalist showed more images of military and civilian causalities than victories. According to Rohn “The percentage of victory stories reported by journalists decreased from 62 before to 44 after the Tet,” journalist reported less victories and as the reports grew more negative, the audience declined its support as

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