Media In Vietnam War

With the spread of communism, Vietnam became divided within the country after obtaining their independence from France. The country started a civil war in 1957, between the Republic of Vietnam (South Vietnam) and the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (North Vietnam). South Vietnam was comprised of individuals who opposed communism; North Vietnam was built by communists under Ho Chi Min’s rule. At the point of the Gulf of Tonkin, the United States began intervening with the battles, supporting the Republic of Vietnam and sending more than 500,000 U.S. military personnels to Vietnam. In Vietnam, the Vietnam War is referred to as the “American War” because of the American involvement during the war. During the Vietnam War, the media played a

The development of portable recording technology made it possible for the media to follow the war more closely and share it more vividly with the public. Through developments of “new record[ing] technologies such as video camera and audio recorders,” the media had the ability to spread coverage of the Vietnam War at an unprecedented rate with the addition of types of graphic resources that were never seen before. Therefore, instead of relying on the government to gain facts, people started to rely on the media, and depending on how the war was displayed, the opinions on the Vietnam War of every individual changed. In fact, with the widespread television, it was problematic for the government to reach out and connect with the public. With the impact the media had on the public through the spread of images and videos that showed what war really looked like, it was difficult for the government to appeal the idea of continuing to fight in Vietnam to the

This made many feel betrayed by the country and lose confidence in the credibility of the government. One case of military cover-up followed by the media was the ambush of the Americans during the Battle of Ong Thanh. On October 17, the Americans ambushed the Viet Cong and suffered a loss. However, Michael Arias, a soldier who survived the event, was told by “superiors not to call what happened an ambush when interviewed,” and had to lie during the CBS interview. Because many soldiers knew the truth about what had happened during the battle, cynicism started to grow. The surviving soldiers saw that the government fabricated the truth, and called the ambush a victory that was not an ambush. This resulted in many starting to question the information provided by the government. The media’s ability to interact directly with the soldiers made the individuals who knew the truth become a cynic of the government, and made the public-government relationship worse. Because the media could interact directly with the soldiers, they were able to take home information about individuals who knew the truth and had been silenced by the military. Media reports about such situations led the public to feel much more cynical of the military and the government, thus worsening the public-government