The use of broadcast journalism during the Vietnam War permanently altered the way Americans perceive war. The 1960’s were a big year for television news. It was the decade when famous broadcasts like the Kennedy assassination, Martin Luther King’s “I have a dream” speech and the first televised presidential debate aired. According to PBS article called “TV Milestones”, in 1960 90% of American households owned a television and by 1963 the majority of Americans said they got most of their news from TV. Since there were very few channels, most families gathered around at night to watch the evening news. It was through these daily viewings that the Vietnam War became the first televised war. Although televisions did exist before the Vietnam War, they
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It was called “D- Day” and it illustrated the Allie’s storming Omaha beach, jumping from planes into battle, and battle ships preparing for war. Though, despite it being somber and violent event, the whole footage is being played under very upbeat and cheerful music. The soundtrack was played over a scene of men running onto a beach and explosions going off seemingly everywhere else but where the one soldier is being filmed. You never see a man being shot, a dead soldier, or people really suffering in anyway shape or form. It’s essentially depicted as a scene from a movie.
The first hand account of men who were at Normandy described soldiers drowning from the weight of their packs, being shot and left for dead, and navigating through a flurry of hellish explosion. None of which was seen in newsreels. War news footage prior to the Vietnam War was flawed. It hadn’t shown the true nature of war and the treachery it entails. This is why the broadcast news on the Vietnam War was so traumatic to the American public. They were not use seeing such wretched scenes in
It was called “D- Day” and it illustrated the Allie’s storming Omaha beach, jumping from planes into battle, and battle ships preparing for war. Though, despite it being somber and violent event, the whole footage is being played under very upbeat and cheerful music. The soundtrack was played over a scene of men running onto a beach and explosions going off seemingly everywhere else but where the one soldier is being filmed. You never see a man being shot, a dead soldier, or people really suffering in anyway shape or form. It’s essentially depicted as a scene from a movie.
The first hand account of men who were at Normandy described soldiers drowning from the weight of their packs, being shot and left for dead, and navigating through a flurry of hellish explosion. None of which was seen in newsreels. War news footage prior to the Vietnam War was flawed. It hadn’t shown the true nature of war and the treachery it entails. This is why the broadcast news on the Vietnam War was so traumatic to the American public. They were not use seeing such wretched scenes in